RWBY: A Grimm fate
by crusader76
Summary: The Grimm are the scourge of humanity, but what if one of them became like us. How would it function in this new body and how would its choices affect the world around it. Follow along as a young alpha Beowolf turned Faunus tries to answer... can a monster have a soul?
1. Chapter 1: Born from dust

**A/N: I own nothing here. RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. Cover picture by DarkHunter666.**

 _Man, born from dust, was strong, wise and resourceful. Their very introduction to the world seemed to give birth to a brand new light into an otherwise dark and unforgiving world. But, with this light came a new form of darkness, a malign entity that seemed intent on bringing man's brief existence back to the void. These creatures attacked man and all his creations for countless eons, what they lacked in individual strength they made up for with sheer overwhelming numbers and simple unyielding rage._

 _These creatures became known as the creatures of Grimm._

 _For centuries, it seemed as if Mankind was up against overwhelming odds and would face a premature extinction. However, against all odds, man's passion, resourcefulness and ingenuity allowed them to find new, more effective ways to ward off the darkness. The use of dust, various applications of Aura and pushing the limits of Semblances allowed man to thrive across all of Remnant. And at the head of this charge were the defenders of humanity known as Huntsmen and Huntresses._

 _However, even the brightest lights must one day flicker and die, for whilst humanity built its strongholds and believed themselves finally free from harm, the Grimm continued to grow in number and take different, more powerful shapes, waiting only for the right moment to strike. And when the light fades, darkness will return._

 _Sometimes however, a great light can come from the most unexpected of places... even from the darkness itself._

...

"Yeesh, these mutts are even uglier up close."

When it comes to smuggling, Roman Torchwick was no stranger to the game, but this was definitely going down as one of the strangest things he had done in his entire criminal career and he had had to do a lot of strange things recently.

" _I should really just learn to say no, I mean seriously, I have to round up these rabid dogs now on top of everything else!"_

The self-proclaimed master thief stood in front of an enormous glass panelling, that according to his... employer, would be able to halt a rampaging Deathstalker with little issue, and looked over the vast cave system that lay before him.

He was currently underneath one of the deeper parts of the Emerald forest, and had been tasked to lure a significant number of Grimm monsters into an as yet unknown section of the forest, filled with ancient ruins from a bygone age. The very air felt heavy with the passage of time, and the silence of the great cavern when Roman first walked into the labyrinth of tunnels was eerie to say the least.

The caves new occupants certainly weren't adding to its charm either.

Even in the thick darkness that blanketed the caves, Roman could clearly make out the well over two dozen pairs of burning red eyes, all of which were directed at himself, making it impossible for him to not feel the pure hatred and animalistic rage coming off these abominations.

"How are the pets liking their new home Roman?"

The dark, seductive tone of his "Employer" had already been made recognizable in Roman's mind as she called him from his scroll. As much as he found his new bosses vagueness when explaining her plans to him to be ungodly irritating, he was quick to answer. He knew better than to try his luck with this kind of person.

Especially when said person could generate fire from their hands.

"I think 'Liking' might be too strong a word, the younger ones especially don't seem too..."

BAM!

Almost right on cue, a paw the size of a serving tray slammed against the glass wall, and an unearthly roar came from the nightmare beast that now stood almost exactly in front of Romans face. He turned his head upwards to stare at the Grimm that was currently glaring at him with an almost palpable hatred.

"... keen on their new accommodations. But I suppose that's to be expected, I mean they are _literal monsters!_ "

Roman couldn't stop the blatant sarcasm from leaking into his voice, it was a defence mechanism really, there was only so much stress he could take in a single afternoon before it started to affect him. But could you blame him when he was simultaneously talking with his megalomaniac boss and having an impromptu staring contest with a Grimm three times his height.

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure they'll grow used to their new living area in time. And if not well, there's plenty more Grimm out there to take their place."

" _Yeah and knowing my luck,"_ Roman thought to himself sardonically _"I'll be the one who has to round up the next bunch of "Able bodied recruits"."_

"How many did you find, by the way?" his employers tone now all too serious.

" About thirty-six Beowolves, with about five of those being Alpha Beowolves."

One of those Alpha's currently right in front of him still trying to see if it was possible to kill the bowler hat wearing criminal with just the power of thought. Beowolves were among the most common of Grimm types, and as such, were relatively easy to find if you knew where to look. But they were just as ruthless and blood hungry as any of their more creatively designed kin. With the Alphas standing as the worst of them all in these categories.

The one in front of him for example, stood at just over three meters high if Roman were to guess, and looked like an exact replica of the types of monsters one would hear about in a kids fairy-tale. Charcoal black fur covered a lithe, muscular body. Ivory white armour made from the beasts own bones lined its arms, legs, chest, spine and face. Claws as long and sharp as daggers adorned its paws. Fangs that gleamed even in the darkness lined its drooling maw and, as already mentioned, blood red eyes with no discernible pupils that seemed to want nothing more than to remove the glass wall in front of it, and tear Romans throat out.

Yeah, he had to say something.

" I don't know why we couldn't have just hired a few more mooks to watch this place, would have been far less hassle trust me."

The woman on the other end chuckled lowly, as if having to explain to a child why the sun goes down.

"This whole operation is merely a contingency plan; in case something were to go wrong with our mission. Besides, this is a more cost effective way of keeping our assets secure. Why pay for a few mindless grunts to guard this area for an uncertain period of time, when we could just have these monsters do it for us for free."

Whilst the woman talked, the Beowolf in front of Roman had given up in trying to melt the glass with its eyes, and had instead slunk back into the shadows with the rest of its pack, growling all the while.

"And that would be great," Roman replied with an audibly sarcastic sigh, "If it wasn't so pointless. I mean, if this liquid Dust is so powerful, as you claim it is, why don't we just take it all from this crumbling mess, instead of traipsing across all of Vale, looting any Dust shop we come across?"

While saying this, Roman turned to another chamber in the vast underground cavern, and to the only natural light source in the area. A gigantic pit, filled to the brim with a glowing, silver liquid that seemed to move all on its own, constantly churning and swirling in the otherwise unmoving pit. A few of the Alphas, he noticed, had gathered around the strange substance and paced around it cautiously, as if sensing the pure energy that emanated from the almost mystical liquid.

Liquidised Dust was especially tricky to manufacture, and the consequences were severe to any who screwed it up. So finding such an enormous quantity of the stuff in an otherwise uninhabited area, was certainly unusual

"Too risky I'm afraid." The woman replied with audible irritation in her voice, clearly growing tired of the conversation "Moving such a large quantity of Dust from just one area, especially an area close to Beacon academy, would raise too much suspicion from those in power. For now, it would be best to remain under the radar."

"Now, if we're quiet finished here," The woman snipped quickly, as if sensing Romans remark and stopping it before it had the chance to start, "You know what you have to do Roman. Find men, and take as much Dust as you can find, let our new associates get on with their work in peace."

At that point, the call was abruptly ended, and Romans scroll went dark. Sighing to himself, he took out a cigar and lighter from his jacket pocket, and lit up his preferred method of stress relief. Looking out to the Grimm one final time, he gestured to them with his bowler then strode away, cane in hand.

"As you were boys." He called over his shoulder, receiving only more growling in return.

As he stepped out of the cave and back into natural light, Roman once again found himself questioning if all this work would even be worth it in the end, and if his boss wasn't just completely insane.

" _I should have just stuck to pickpocketing old ladies"_ he thought, only mildly seriously.

Shaking his head ruefully he carried on his way, already plotting in his head the nearest Dust shops in the area, and where best to find some cheap mercenaries to do the heavy lifting for him.

"I sure hope this will be worth it in the end."

...

"You are so childish."

Slowly, Ruby Rose uncovered her eyes to check to see if she wasn't actually dead. After confirming that yes, she was in fact alive, she quickly surveyed the area around her. Taking a look upwards, she very nearly let out a small 'eep' at the sight before her. Just a few inches away from her face, was the glowing stinger of the giant Deathstalker that she had been running away from moments prior. The only thing stopping said stinger from impaling her, was the enormous tower of ice holding it in place.

At first, it seemed as if the wall of ice had appeared out of thin air. But, quickly looking back down revealed the source of the sudden structure. However, this reveal only caused the young would-be Huntress even more confusion.

"Weiss?" the white haired girl in question was crouched down, her back to Ruby, but it was undoubtedly her.

"And dim-witted, and hyperactive," the young heiress known as Weiss Schnee now turned towards Ruby to address her face to face, "And don't even get me started on your fighting style."

Ruby instantly felt her shoulders sag, as the young heiresses words cut at her pride.

 _"Even when saving someone, she's so mean!"_

But, what the other girl said next caused her to rethink this statement.

"And, I suppose, I can be a bit... difficult." Weiss winced slightly at the last word, "But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together."

Weiss leaned down to look Ruby directly in the eyes, her face completely serious.

"So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be..."

Weiss paused for a second, as if trying to find the right word, until eventually settling for…

"…Nicer."

With every word said by the young heiress, Ruby's confusion only grew. All day long, Weiss had acted like having Ruby as her new partner was a mistake and had made her feel like a small child who couldn't hope to compete with her. Yet now, here she was, seemingly willing to work with her. Guilt started to work its way into Ruby's mind as she thought back on the day so far.

Maybe she had been a bit show-offish, but it was only because she felt the need to prove herself. She had been moved ahead two years in her education in order to enrol at Beacon academy this year. Everyone else here didn't have that opportunity, so she desperately wanted to show them that she wouldn't be a burden to them and that she could fight alongside them.

"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby finally admitted to the other girl, "I want you to know I can do this."

Weiss seemed to regard Ruby for a moment, before saying two words that, while wouldn't have meant all that much to anybody else, resonated a lot stronger with the cloak wearing girl.

"You're fine."

And with that, Weiss turned and walked back to the others.

For a while, Ruby just sat there on the ground, before she sighed and held her hands in front of her face, smiling slightly.

"Normal knees."

After that little moment, Ruby got up and backed away from the still struggling Grimm and re-joined her new teammates.

However, everyone else was unaware that, as the giant scorpion Grimm struggled against its icy prison, the ground beneath it started to crack.

...

Small shafts of light started to pierce the dark cavern, and tiny pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling. While the noise would barely be audible to a human, for the Beowolves prowling below, it rang loud and clear.

A small pebble bounced off one of the younger Alpha's snout, rousing it from its slumber. It turned its muzzle upwards to the slowly crumbling ceiling, and spied the tiny slivers of sunlight weakly pouring through the newly made openings.

Raising its ears it caught the growls and hisses of a struggling Deathstalker from above the caves roof.

But along with these new noises came a singular smell that slowly but surely, worked the wolf like Grimm up into a frenzy.

Dust, weaponized Dust. The kind of Dust that was only used by one creature on all of Remnant, and it just so happened to be the Grimm's most hated enemy.

The Beowolves all stood at the ready, claws extended, and teeth bared as they all watched the ceiling, waiting for it to finally give way.

The youngest Alpha licked its lips as drool fell from its maw and its blood red eyes burned with a hellish glow. They had been trapped in these caves, starving for weeks, but now they would be free.

Today this wolf would taste dustling flesh.

...

Ruby walked up to the small, stone podium and grabbed the chess piece(?) that stood on top of it.

" _these are the relics we had to collect? really?"_

While bizarre, the girl decided now wasn't the time to question it. After taking a moment to decide which piece to grab, she eventually settled on the white knight piece. Next to her, Jaune Arc grabbed the white rook piece then turned to her with a smile.

Satisfied, the two turned back to join the rest of the group of teens. Meanwhile, the giant Nevermore continued to circle overhead, preparing for another run on the small group of auditioning Huntsmen.

"Time we left." The tall boy in green said [Ren if Ruby remembered correctly], as the sounds of splintering ice reached their ears. The Deathstalker was seconds away from being free, and it would not be happy.

"Right, let's go!" And with that, the girl was off, the rest of the group hot on her heels. Her sister, Yang Xiao-Long however, paused for a moment and watched as the group rushed past her.

"What is it?" Yang's new partner, Blake Belladonna, walked over to the blonde bombshell to find out what had caused her to stop. Eventually Blake followed the other girls line of sight as it came to rest upon the youngest member of their little gang, leading the charge.

"Nothing." Yang said, sighing in a way that could only be described as proud, as she resumed running alongside the rest of the group. Blake, smiling ever so slightly, moved to catch up.

Unfortunately, the pair only made it a few steps before the Deathstalker finally wrenched its tail free of its icy prison.

And with its release, the ground finally gave way beneath them.

For a few moments, all that could be heard in the area was the sound of rubble collapsing as a massive portion of the forest floor fell away, revealing a deep, dark cavern where the only source of light was an ominously glowing pit far, far beneath them.

At first, nobody moved, not even the scorpion-like Grimm. And then, what looked like dozens of pairs of blood red eyes, blazed in the darkness to look upon the small group of fledgling warriors.

All at once, an entire pack of Beowolves leapt out from the newly made cave opening and growled menacingly at the teenagers, quickly cutting off their way forward.

"Oh great!" Jaune cried, the blond boy's skin notably paler than earlier, "Even more monsters to run away from!"

"Oh relax vomit boy." Yang called out, a grin on her face as she winded her arms back and prepped her gauntlets, gearing up for a fight that at this point looked inevitable, "It's just a couple of Beowolves, nothing we can't handle."

As if sensing the blonde's cocky nature, a second group of Wolf Grimm leapt up from the darkness. While fewer in number, these new arrivals looked bigger and more fearsome than their smaller counterparts. Yang's smile dipped slightly at these new arrivals. Run of the mill Beowolves were one thing, Yang could handle them in her sleep.

Alpha Beowolves on the other hand, were a different matter.

"No time, keep running!" Ruby yelled out as the Nevermore started closing in from above, and the Deathstalker, once more, started moving towards the group.

Moving as fast they could, the group sprinted around the outskirts of the cave opening, the faster wolf Grimm hot on their heels.

...

The youngest Alpha was literally seeing red as it honed in on the members at the back of the pack of young Dustlings. Barreling its way past the rest of it kin, it took a giant flying leap and cut off the female with yellow hair from the rest of the group. Standing on its hind legs, it let out a fearsome roar, signalling to the rest of its group to catch the others.

" _ **THIS ONE IS MINE!"**_

The blonde backed up slightly, fists raised and gauntlets at the ready. Wasting no time, the Alpha charged and swung its left paw in an attempt to take the woman's head off. Yang quickly dodged the sloppy swing and quickly delivered a left cross of her own to the beasts stomach, letting off a shot-gun blast for good measure.

While the blast knocked the beast back slightly, the blow seemingly didn't injure it, in fact now, the Grimm just looked even angrier.

Yang charged first this time aiming a right hook to the monsters skeletal mask, an organic structure that substituted for a face. However, with a surprising burst of speed, the Alpha grabbed the girls arm in its gargantuan paw and directed the second shot gun blast away from its face, recurved fangs glinting from the light of the small explosion.

With lightning fast speed, the Alpha brought its arm upwards in an arc, holding Yang all the while, and bodyslammed the blonde into the floor. Such was the force of the impact; whole chunks of stone and dirt were chucked up into the air. Were it not for the girl's Aura this single blow alone would have no doubt killed her then and there. As it was, it just winded her.

The Alpha glared down at the blonde, hunger and hate burning in its soulless eyes. Before it could deliver what it hoped would be a killing blow, a cry let out from behind the Alpha. Ruby had turned around to check to see if the rest of the group was behind her, and almost instantly spotted her older sister, lying down on the ground as one of the Alpha's held her in its ivory claws.

Activating her Semblance, Ruby leapt towards the Alpha, bringing out Crescent Rose from its compact form to its fully extended scythe form. Just as the beast turned toward her, she brought her scythe around and slashed at the creatures chest.

This time, the beast let loose a howl of pain as it was launched backwards from the impact and tumbled to the floor, a deep red line appearing on its chest as dark crimson ichors poured from the fresh wound.

Slowly, the Grimm made its way back to its feet. Any other animal would have given up on finishing off its prey after sustaining such a heavy blow. But the Grimm were nothing if not persistent.

Letting loose another roar, the Alpha charged at the new fighter. The girl in red glared back at the monster and reactivated her Semblance, Instantly turning into a flurry of movement. Ruby drove her boots into the beasts gullet, some of her signature rose petals getting caught in the Grimm's wound.

For a mere instant, the two combatants looked into each other's eyes. Crimson red eyes filled with only fury and rage, stared into deep silver pools full of determination and resolve. And then the moment passed, with Ruby launching off of the Alpha's chest as the impact yet again sent the creature flying, only this time the wolf was sent over the cliffs edge and into the rocky chasm below.

The Grimm let out one last wail as it vanished from sight, into the darkness.

Ruby turned around and helped her elder sister back to her feet. "You okay Yang?"

"Yeah I'm fine sis." Yang dusted herself off and gave her younger sibling a thumbs up. Before any more could be said, the howling of more Grimm brought them back to reality, "Come on, we need to get back to the others."

The redheaded girl nodded to her sibling, and with that the two ran back to the others, with the Grimm hot on their heels.

...

"And finally Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao-Long." Professor Ozpin stood at the centre of the small stage that stood at the front of the large auditorium. For the past few minutes, the headmaster of Beacon Academy had been assigning the successful first year students their new team names, and choosing the teams leaders. Like with all the previous years, this had been a long and complicated process. Choosing team leaders was not something to be taken lightly, but the grey haired man felt confident in his choices.

Especially with this last group, who would no doubt prove to be an intriguing development in the years to come.

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces, from this day forward you will work together as team RWBY."

The four girls stood in front of the older man, each displaying... varying degrees of professionalism, but Ozpin wasn't going to lecture them now.

Besides, that was more Glynda's specialty anyway.

"Lead by Ruby Rose."

After this announcement, the audience let out a round of applause as the final team leader was announced. The girl in question looked dumbfounded at the statement, as if not believing what she'd just heard. Before she could even fully process it, her older sister enveloped her in a no doubt, bone crushing hug.

"I'm so proud of you!"

Whilst watching this small display of affection, Ozpin allowed a small smile to grace his normally impassive features. While he did not approve of showing favouritism to students, he was sure this would be a team that would have a lot of eyes on them in the coming days.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." said the headmaster quietly.

Ozpin had no idea just how right that statement would become.

...

The alpha fell for what felt like an eternity, until finally it collided the cave floor. But, instead of hitting hard rocks and jagged stalagmites, it's back collided with a liquid surface. Slowly, the near dead body of the Beowolf sank to the bottom of the pit, the creature barely having the strength to struggle. As the beast desperately clung to its last threads of life, the liquid enveloping it started to churn and... glow?

With a start, the Beowolf realised it had fallen into the worst possible thing. It had fallen into the liquid Dust pit it had been unknowingly guarding for the past several weeks. With renewed vigour, it frantically clawed upwards to escape the pool that would surely kill him if he stayed in it any longer. Unbeknownst to the young Grimm, the Liquid energy had already made its way inside the beasts body, entering through its open chest wound. While making its way into the monsters bloodstream, the small pieces of dust gathered up the blood soaked rose petals, and carried them deeper into the creatures body, eventually making their way to the Grimm's blackened heart. Suddenly, in the presence of both the beasts body and the rose petals, the Dust reacted violently and enveloped the beast in searing, white hot pain.

The Grimm cried out in agony, but it's cries were silenced as the dust forced its way down his throat, constricting his entire body in an invisible death-grip. From the outside, the glow of the pit only got brighter and brighter as something happened inside the chamber that had never in all of human history occurred.

And never would again.

Rapidly, the monsters bones broke, realigned, re-fused and reassembled themselves as the Grimm's anguish only grew. His muscles felt like they were on fire, his blood boiling and his heart thumping erratically. Slowly, charcoal black fur and bone white armour, gave way to pale, pink flesh. Claws shrunk down to sharpened nails. Muzzle flattened, fangs receded, and animalistic roars came out instead as the wails of a man. Finally, as quickly as the pain came, it went away, and the brightly burning glow of the pit went back to its normal state. With a sudden, sharp sensation, the being felt its chest contract as newly formed lungs cried out for... something.

" _CAN'T... BREATHE... NEED... AIR!"_

Shooting upwards, the former Beowolf launched out of the pit and landed on all fours at the pit's edge, taking in lungful's of stale cavern air.

An Alpha Beowolf had fallen into a liquefied Dust chamber that day, but something new had risen out. Something with ghostly pale skin, a lithe, muscular body, two sets of ears, one set small, round and pink, the other set, more lupine in appearance. A long, bushy black tail, A small tuft of hair on the top of its head, barely coming down to its neck, the same colour as its tail but with faint streaks of dark blue woven in-between.

And as it opened a new set of eyes, a second glow accompanied the pit.

The swirling navy Eyes of a Grimm turned Faunus.

A Grimmborn had come.

 **A/N: This is my very first fanfiction story ever, so I ask you, be as brutal as possible. I plan to make this an ongoing project so anything I can use to improve my writing ability would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for taking the time to give this little story a read and I hope to keep your interest for as long as possible with this little idea.**


	2. Chapter 2: Trials and Travels part 1

**A/N: Thank you to VuskiiCC and DreamWeaverGod for your much appreciated reviews. Seriously were it not for you two I would have had no idea what a line break was. Shows just how new I am to this whole writing business. Also thanks to death korp comissinar for also leaving words of encouragement, I hope to not let you down.**

For hours the former Grimm lay completely motionless in the dark cavern, hardly moving an inch. One could be mistaken for thinking he was dead were it not for the short, sudden gasps for air the creature would take infrequently, as if forgetting the need to breathe. Eventually night fell on the Emerald forest and the shattered moons rays filtered into the dark depths where the alpha lay. Only then did the new being start to move. With an agonisingly sluggish pace, the Beowolf turned Faunus, looked up to the moon with a fresh set of eyes. Raising its arm to shield itself from the rays, The Grimm looked upon its new limbs for the first time.

His eyes widened in shock at the lack of any fur or armour on his appendages and as he continued to look down upon his transformed body, his skin crawled in disgust at the changes he had undergone in the chamber.

" _WHY... SO... SMALL!"._ The beings thoughts were cloudy and slow, as if its brain was trying to wade through mental quicksand. Indeed he had shrunk considerably but that was nothing compared to how suddenly weak he felt,

" _WHAT'S... HAPPENED... TO ME."_

The longer the Grimm studied his new body, from the pale skin, to the shortened nails, to the flattened face, the more his anger grew. He felt tiny, like a new-born pup, weak and vulnerable to the world.

Weakness was something all Grimm despised and this Alpha was no different.

Slowly turning its body around, the former Grimm jumped back in fright at the sight of a dustling mere inches from its own face. But when the dustling jumped back at the exact moment he did, The creature realised he was staring at his own reflection, in the glass wall at the edge of the cavern. And as he crawled over to look at his reflection in more detail, he felt his blood turn cold.

Staring back at him was his own face.

The face of a dustling.

" _NO... NO... NO!"_

It all became too much for the young alpha and with a scream of primal fury, he struck the glass. The wall shuddered from the impact and large cracks formed like a spider web across the glass surface, but it did not break. And still the monsters reflection stared back at him.

Mocking his new, feeble form.

Growling lowly, the beast took a moment to collect himself and looked to his reflection again for more details. His muzzle and snout were all but gone, his face now more angular in shape and a much smaller nose right in the middle of where his snout used to be. He lacked any form of mask or fur here as well though he did take note of the singular patch of fur on the top of his head. It just barely grazed the back of his neck length-wise, shaggy and unkempt and he could see tiny streaks of midnight blue weaving in and out of the coarse fibres, becoming more prominent at the tips. Bringing his hand up to his head, he gripped at the mop of hair and tugged lightly. A twinge of pain shot through him after this and he released his grip.

Looking further up he was surprised to find his ears had remained largely unchanged. Still sitting on the top of his head and distinctly canine in appearance, but upon turning his head from side to side he noticed a second, smaller pair of ears on the sides of his head, these ones much more rounded I shape and like the rest of his new body, completely barren of fur or natural protection. Quickly the Alpha turned its neck around and let out a small sigh of relief at the sight of it's still present tail. After being satisfied with a few experimental flicks to make sure it was still functional, he turned back to the mirror

Finally the Grimm opened it's new mouth and looked inside. His fangs were still sharp and glistened in the moonlight, though they were much smaller now in order to fit in his shrunken jaw. Taking a few more minutes to go over its overall disappointing new body. The Grimm turned around and sat on it's haunches, staring all around the barren cavern.

A gust of wind blew through the area and the young Beowolf shuddered violently as the icy breeze bit at his exposed skin. Without his fur he finally felt the full effects of the cold for the first time in years. The sensation only adding to his already strained temper.

" _HOW...DID THIS... HAPPEN TO ME"_

Straining with the effort, the Beowolf went through his memory, trying to recall how it ended up in this situation. After a while a surge of memories hit the Grimm as it remembered the events from a few hours ago

The ceiling, the forest, the group of dustlings.

The fight with the blonde, the lancing pain from the red-headed female's weapon, the fall from the cliff

The pain

The cold chill of the liquid Dust as it tore his body apart from the inside and stitched it back together.

At the memory of the wound he had sustained, the Grimm checked his chest for any sign of the injury and was instead met with a thin, barely visible line running from top right side of his chest, down to just above where his heart should be.

One memory however struck out clearer than all the others. The memory of that split second in the heat of battle when just before the shorter female had launched him off the Cliffside.

The Red and black hair, the long flowing cloak, the deep silver eyes that shone like liquid metal.

 _Ruby Rose_

A voice that wasn't his whispered faintly inside his head, almost as quiet as the wind itself. He didn't know how but a feeling of certainty washed over him when he heard the name. That name was the name of the dustling who struck him

" _Ruby Rose... She did this to me... I'LL MAKE HER... PAY FOR THIS"_

With a newfound purpose, the wolf like Grimm rose back to all fours and began the slow, tedious climb to the top of the cavern. He slipped on the ancient rocks a fair few times and on more than one occasion, nearly fell back down to the cave floor but for the sake of his already shattered pride, elected to pin in it on the fact that his knees were the wrong way round, facing the front of his body and made his every leg movement feel like he was walking backwards.

Eventually however he was able to haul his aching body up over the lip of the cave entrance and feel fresh air on his face once more. Now his only problem was where to go from here. Eventually deciding on a random direction and hoping for the best he made his way through the forest he used to call home.

Eventually he would find his way out of this forest and either find the girl in red or someone who knew her. And when he found her, she would tell him how to get back to his old form.

One way or another.

...

For several days the young Grimm wandered aimlessly through the Emerald forest. In this time he had come to realise something about his new body.

That being he absolutely hated it with every fibre of his being. The squishy, pink flesh was nowhere near as tough as his old hide and the lack of fur meant that clumps of dirt, leaves, twigs and cuts covered his entire body. After the first two days his stomach started to cause him sharp stabbing pains and he had no idea why and his eyes felt heavier and heavier with every passing evening as he unceasingly bounded through the dense foliage.

And to top it all off he smelt. Like really bad.

" _When I find that dustling I'm going to throttle her for making me go through this. I have never felt so... filthy in all my years of life"_

One good thing that had come out of this whole journey were that his thoughts were much clearer now, though he still had yet to speak outside of grunts and growls. And by pure luck he had not come across any other Grimm during his travels, he didn't bother thinking about what his kin would do to him if they saw him like this.

Probably mistake him for a dustling and kill him most likely.

Eventually however during the sunrise of a new day, the tall, thick trees gave way to a wide cliffs edge, and on the other side of the cliff lay a gigantic human settlement.

The Alpha Beowolf had arrived at the city of Vale.

Making his way down the cliff face, the young Grimm made his way over to the city gates, sticking low to the ground and as close to the shadows as possible. Being a natural born predator, the Alpha knew that dark, out of the way areas were the best places to sneak up on unsuspecting prey, and that stealth was key to a successful hunt.

However at this point he didn't fancy drawing attention to himself by attempting to kill the city guards. He didn't feel that confident in his new body yet.

For a time the Grimm simply waited in the dark, waiting for an opportunity to sneak by unnoticed, until finally an opportunity came in the form of a giant metal... thing on wheels, rolled up to the gates. As the guards went to inspect the new arrival, the Alpha seized his chance and quickly, but quietly made his way into the city proper.

It was still the early hours of the morning so there weren't many humans walking around on the streets, but the Alpha knew there were more resting in their stone dwellings

He could smell hundreds of them in just the immediate area alone, the air thick with their stench.

Still choosing stealth as his best option, The Grimm stuck to the shady back alleys, and when he could, traversed across the multitude of tiled rooftops as he scanned the city below him.

Truthfully he had never been In a human settlement before, the closest he could remember was some small villages in the middle of nowhere that were promptly massacred by himself and his kin, so this was a new experience for him, seeing this many humans in one small area. However right now, he was only interested in finding one, specific human

" _The girl in red... Ruby Rose... She must live around here... I hope"_

At the last thought, the Grimm winced slightly, realising he was placing a lot of hope in her being here, or at least finding someone who knew of her.

Still better than nothing.

As he continued to watch the steadily increasing gaggle of Dustlings, a thought occurred to him. That being that there was no way he would be able to blend into a crowd like this and not be noticed. Not because of his extra ears, or tail or anything like that, the Grimm knew of certain types of dustlings that had more animal like features, and he could spot a small amount of them in the growing mass beneath him.

It was more due to the fact that he was stark naked and the dustlings below all seemed to be wearing different types of fabrics over their bodies.

" _Those are... uhmmm... CLOTHES... Dustlings wear those to keep themselves covered... right?"_

While it made little sense to the Grimm, he did understand that if he wanted to blend in to this crowd, and find out if any of them knew the red headed girl without drawing attention to himself.

It would probably be in his best interest to find some of this... clothing.

For a time, the Grimm simply watched the dustlings below, looking for any sign of a place where he could acquire some clothing, just as he was beginning to consider grabbing a random passer-by and ripping their clothes off them, a more promising option presented itself in the form of the big, metal transport from earlier as it trundled into a side alley near his position. Following the strange transport round the back of a small store, the Grimm took note of the sign hanging above the Dustling store. It was a simple picture of a green dress shirt with a pair of scissors on the front.

" _This looks about right"_ The young alpha thought to himself as he watched the vehicle slowly back up near the back of the area. An elderly man with a bald spot and long grey hair with narrow eyes came out the backdoor of the shop and greeted the driver of the vehicle. The Grimm waited patiently as the two men conversed, eventually the older man turned back to walk into the shop and the driver went round to the back of the truck and opened the truck's doors. Silently the Grimm snuck up behind the man, carefully making sure there was no possible way he would be spotted. When he was certain that he was hidden, he grabbed the mans head and slammed it into the truck door. The man was unconscious before he even hit the floor.

The alpha debated whether or not to kill the Dustling at his feet, but decided it wouldn't be worth the effort. He was only interested in one Dustling's blood right now and it wasn't his.

Looking around inside the truck, the Grimm frantically rifled through stacks of cardboard boxes. He wasn't interested in human fashion, he just needed to find something that fit him.

Eventually after finding some acceptable pieces of clothing the hard part came In the form of putting on the infernal pieces of fabric. He got the general idea of how they were supposed to go on but actually putting it into practice was proving to be a great source of annoyance for him.

Mercifully he was able to get a full set of clothes on before the elder man returned, and hightailed it out of the alleyway and back to the roof. Eventually figuring he was far enough away from the shop, he jumped back down to a side street and walked up to a cracked and busted mirror propped up next to a dumpster, to get a better look at his new attire.

Currently he wore a simple grey sweatshirt and dark blue jeans, that he had to tear a small hole in to put his tail through, that clung tightly to his legs. He had also grabbed a pair of black hiking boots and slipped those onto his feet (Though he didn't even attempt with the laces), he thought they looked good enough for what he had in mind though when he looked at his face for the first time since back in the cave, his brow furrowed in concern.

He looked awful.

Dirt and grime covered his whole body, contrasting heavily with the brand new clothes. His hair had gone from shaggy and unkempt, to a ratty and tangled mess that just hung limply on hiss head. His eyes had dark rings around them and his skin was stretched taut along his gaunt face, indicating just how emaciated he had become. In short he looked half dead.

The Grimm stared at his withering form but then shook his head and decided not to dwell on it. Before moving on however he noticed something laying atop the rubbish pile that gave him pause. Removing it from the dumpster he discovered it was also a piece of clothing but unlike his current attire, it showed clear signs of wear and tear.

It was a jet black jacket, made of a thick, padded material that had very little give to it. Running a hand across the back of the jacket, the Grimm felt surprise at how familiar it felt.

" _Feels like...Hide. The hide of an animal"_

There was no mistaking the texture of the material. It was tough despite its age and reminded him of how his old hide felt. Upon that thought, The Grimm nodded to himself and donned the jacket that unlike the rest of his new attire, fit him like a glove.

It might have seemed silly to the Beowolf in hindsight but the bulk and weight of the jacket made him feel as if he was back in his old body.

Just a little bit.

With all that out of the way, the Grimm decided to venture out from the dark alleys and into the now busy main streets. The only problem left was his stance.

He was still down on all fours. Dustlings walked on two legs.

While walking like this was by no means new to the Grimm, the matter was complicated somewhat by the fact that his knees were the opposite way round to what they were before and made the whole ordeal feel like trying to walk backwards. Eventually after a few practise walks in the alley and a few stumbles and trips here and there, he felt confident in his new upright stance and slowly made his way out of the dingy alleyway.

The sun by this point had risen high into the sky and shone its ray's down brightly on the world below. With a mild trepidation in his step, the Grimm brought a hand outwards and felt the light of the sun warm his skin. Then he stepped out into the town proper and looked around from a street view as opposed to the above ground view he had before.

The multitudes of people around him paid him no mind as they carried about their business. At this point the young Alpha noted that despite his shrunken height, he still stood a head taller than more than half of the populace, a fact which allowed him to reclaim a small remnant of his thus far fractured pride. Still the sheer density of Dustlings around him did cause him to a feel a tad overwhelmed.

" _So many... In just one place. How do they live like this?"_ The Grimm grumbled to himself lowly. This was not his ideal environment, he much preferred the open wilds or the vast plains of remnant than this cramped city, but he wasn't here to sightsee. He had a mission, he had a hunt to begin.

" _Find the girl in red... Find Ruby Rose... And make her fix what she did to me."_

With that thought in mind he set off through the crowd, determined to find answers before the day

If he didn't, he would not be a happy monster.

...

The Alpha Beowolf was not a happy monster.

In fact one would be correct in assuming that by this stage in the day he was _**Absolutely Livid**_.

For hours now he had traipsed through this infernal city with no sign of the girl in red, no indication of where she might even be. Nobody in the city outside of law enforcement carried a weapon of any kind and no one had anything close to the type of weapon the silver eyed girl had wielded in the forest. On top of that just being in the presence of all these Dustling's as they walked around aimlessly like cattle, was only adding to his aggravation. AND HE SWORE HE HAD PASSED THAT SAME BOOK SHOP THREE TIMES ALREADY!

Evidently his agitation was obvious as people started to give him a wider and wider berth the instant they saw his face. Good, if just one of these Dustlings had attempted to converse with him he was fairly certain he would have torn their throats out just as a form of stress relief.

Eventually the tired Grimm decided to stop for a moment and sat down on the edge of the sidewalk, putting his face into his hands. This had been a long and exhausting day for the ragged Beast.

GRRMBLL!

Ah yes and then there was that.

All day now his stomach had been growling at him incessantly, shooting small bouts of pain into his guts and brief instances of dizziness in his head. It seemed as if life was intent on beating him down today.

Suddenly a smell made the Grimm look up from his seated position to a building on the other side of the street. There was a small assortment of tables and chairs directly outside the dwelling and from what the Grimm could see, there were more tables inside, with a fair amount of people sitting down around them. But what really caught the Grimm's attention was the strong aroma emanating from the place. The scent was unfamiliar to him but it instantly caused his grumbling stomach to start going nuts. All at once the Young Beowolf felt like smacking himself in the head.

" _Of course... Dustlings have to eat... I'm hungry"_

With this small moment of self idiocy out of the way, the Grimm made his way back to his feet and walked over to the small café. Upon making his way through the door the Grimm took a look around inside the small eatery.

It was significantly warmer inside and the room was abuzz with the idle chitter chatter of the many patrons scattered throughout.

"Hello sir table for one?"

Turning his head, the Grimm saw a female Dustling wearing some kind of uniform and sporting a small pair of antlers on her head, who appeared to be addressing him. It was at this point that the Alpha realised something that made his heart stop. He hadn't once tried communicating with these Dustlings or even attempt to speak their language.

" _Can I even speak the same... Tongue as these Dustlings?"_

"Um... sir are you O.K.?"

The female dustling just continued to look at him with steadily growing concern as he just stood there motionlessly

" _SAY SOMETHING!"_

"F...fVvVV... FOoFVFFvV" The effort alone to produce any form of sound felt agonising on his barely used vocal chords, just uttering those few words made his throat feel like sand had been shoved down his windpipe. The female only looked more concerned as he continued to desperately utter a word. Finally after what felt like forever he managed to get out a few words

"FOOD...HERE"

A minor coughing fit followed this statement and the Grimm took a moment to rub at his now sore throat. Fortunately the female resumed smiling at him. She figured the young man must have had a sore throat or something and didn't feel like speaking much.

"Of course sir, just follow me"

Doing as he was told, the Wolf Grimm followed the female towards a small booth near the back of the café and moved to the side to allow him to sit down. Upon coming into contact with the seat however, the Grimm let out a small yelp of pain. Turning around to find the source of his sudden discomfort, the Grimm felt a tiny twinge of embarrassment as he looked down at the cause.

He had just sat on his own tail.

The Grimm's lupine ears flattened against his head as he caught the tiny chuckle from the female who had led him here. Adjusting the position of his tail, he sat down again upon the spongy seat. Taking a moment to collect herself, the female walked up to him and handed him a flat piece of paper.

"Can I get you a coffee to start you off?" The woman smiled sweetly at him.

Not feeling like attempting to talk again the Grimm simply nodded curtly at the female, not even knowing what coffee was but deciding it would probably be better than nothing . The woman in question brought out a small pad of paper and started to write something down.

"How would you like it"

"CREAM... FIVE SUGARS"

The Grimm rapidly moved his hand to his mouth, eyes wide in panic as he realised what he had just done. How he had spoken almost seamlessly. The woman however didn't notice as she simply wrote down his order and walked off, throwing a comment of how she would be right back over her shoulder.

" _What did I just say?... Where did that even come from. WHAT IS SUGAR?"_

As he continued to stare down at his hands, wondering why he had suddenly blurted out something seemingly random, a group of three young males walked in and took seats close to where the Grimm's booth was.

After a few minutes the female returned holding a steaming mug in her left hand. She deposited the drink in front of him and turned to look at him

"Let me know when your ready to order and I'll be right back"

Nodding again the Grimm turned to look at the strange beverage that sat before him. Mean while his ears flicked at the sound of whistling coming from his right side. Turning his head slightly he noticed the one's whistling were the three males sitting across from him, and they were specifically catcalling the female as she walked by. The girl's shoulders stiffened slightly before she carried on.

While odd, the Grimm decided not to dwell on it and continued to look at his drink. It was murky brown in colour and the aroma coming off it was strong, so much so that he couldn't but just take a moment to inhale the vapours, eyes closing slightly as he savoured the sensory experience. Grabbing hold of the handle he brought the steamy liquid to his lips and sipped lightly.

His eyes burst open as an explosion of flavour assaulted his palette upon contact. The liquid was strong yet smooth, bitter and sweet at the same time and as it travelled down his gullet he felt it warm his insides.

" _This is... good... really good"_

Wasting no time, the Grimm proceeded to down the entire drink, burning his tongue a little in the process. Once the cup was empty the Grimm let out a small sigh of contentment as the warmth spread throughout his body and cleared his mind.

He suddenly felt really cozy and overall, calm.

Feeling emboldened by the drink, The Alpha raised his hand and on cue the female returned. Feeling more generous now that the beverage had somewhat quelled his aching stomach, he decided to try using a word he had heard some Dustlings use in passing as they had there orders taken.

" More... Please?"

...

The waitress continued to smile as the man very clearly struggled to get the word out but she could tell he was trying.

" _His throat must be really hurting him"_ she thought to herself, feeling a touch of sympathy for the young wolf Faunus. It was quite clear from looking at him that he wasn't well judging by the pale skin, gaunt face and dark rings around his eyes. None of this helped by the tattered leather jacket he wore that he kept firmly wrapped around his body. Hard times were something a great number of Faunus outside of Menagerie including herself had to deal with and it looked like he hadn't fared any better.

"Of course right away sir"

Grabbing his mug she made her way back to the kitchen area.

"Hey Bambi, we're ready to order here!"

Sadly she wasn't able to make it very far. The three "Gentlemen" on the other table had been here a few times already and they were nothing but rude to her and others like her. They were Faunus haters like a good majority of the human population and they made their disgust well known every time they came in.

Unfortunately her boss didn't have the highest opinion of Faunus either and seemed quite content with letting the men hurl abuse at her. So she had no choice but to grit her teeth and get it over with

"Yes sir what would you like." She said through a forced smile

"Hmm, what do you feel like having Hank?"

One of the men asked his friend, the one with long, shoulder length hair. Hank looked the woman up and down not even bothering to mask his sick desires

"A nice juicy Venison sounds real good right now"

The third man laughed loudly at this, attracting the attention of a few of the nearby patrons and some staff members who could only look at the poor girl in pity.

"Careful Hank I hear the meats infected round here, I even hear they cross-breed the live stock to get more meat" At this all three men chuckled darkly as the waitress looked down at her feet and held back the tears from the abuse being thrown at her. She turned to walk away from them, having heard enough for one day. Unfortunately they didn't seem to be done with her.

"Hey where do you think your going freak!"

The first man grabbed her wrist roughly and yanked her backwards, almost pulling her onto his lap.

Suddenly the atmosphere felt a great deal darker as the other two rose from their seats to surround the girl.

"Let go of me!" The girl yelled out hoping to catch someone's attention, but no one came.

"Or what half breed" The one named Hank sneered "You gonna set some of your freak friends on us"

The girl was silent as she let the tears flow freely down her face as the third man cackled at the sight.

"That's what I thought now why don't you be a good little abomination and let us "Sample the menu""

...

The Grimm's kept flicking and darting towards the conversation going on a few feet away from him. Grimm had a natural inborn ability to detect negative emotions. Anger, greed, jealousy, fear, hate all drew the beasts to the source like moths to a flame.

And negative emotions were coming off the three males in spades, all directed towards the female who had served him his coffee. He couldn't explain why but as he watched the three males continue to harass the girl he felt anger slowly start to build within in him, as if what he was watching was wrong somehow and it shouldn't be happening.

As the shortest male grabbed her wrist he felt his shoulders tense.

As she was pulled backwards towards the table he felt his fists clench, knuckles cracking

As the group slowly encircled her like vultures around fresh carrion he felt his teeth grind against each other.

And as the long haired male roughly gripped the woman's upper thigh he finally snapped

" _THATS IT!"_

Standing up sharply the Grimm marched towards the three, going for the smallest first

"What you want mutt, go bother someone else we're busURKGH!

With one hand the Alpha grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him up into the air. The man struggled uselessly in his iron grip as he strode towards the entrance of the café.

"HEY GET THE HELL OFF MY FRIEND YOU FLEA BITTEN DOG!"

The second man noticed his friends absence and ran towards the Grimm, aiming a sloppy right swing for his head. It never made contact.

The Grimm caught the predictable fist and clenched down, hard. Instantly the second man cried out in pain as the Grimm's sharpened nails easily cut into the males wrist and broke the thin bones running through his hand. Dragging the two of them along now, the Grimm stepped outside and threw the first male into the side of a stationary car with such force he dented the metal door. As the first male struggled to his feet, the thoroughly enraged Grimm brought the second male up over his head and threw him into the body of the first male

They both crumpled like paper from the impact

"Just who the hell do you think you are wrecking my car like that you mangy wolf"

As the Grimm turned around to face the third voice a resounding THWACK! Echoed across the street as the third male (Hank) clotheslined the unaware Alpha with a wooden chair.

The chair shattered on impact and the Grimm staggered back slightly but then he slowly turned to look at the man, growling lowly. Before the man could do anything the Grimm brought his fist back and punched the man straight in the face. Hank's nose was broken on impact and blood sputtered over the floor. Not even being given a second to recover the Wolf Faunus picked hank up by his hair and slammed him headfirst through the windshield of the man's car. He was knocked out instantly

The other two thugs had clambered back to their feet at this point and looked on in fear as the Wolf Faunus took out their leader via automobile and backed up further upon noticing the look in the younger man's eyes.

Pure, undiluted rage and hatred stared at them through midnight blue irises.

Snarling at the two still standing, The Grimm bared it's fangs and claws at the two males and then let loose with an earth shattering roar. At this two promptly decided to abandon their comatose friend and ran faster than they had ever ran in their lives

...

With that taken care of the Grimm turned back into the café and walked back to his booth. A deathly silence surrounded the whole area as all the customers stared at the still fuming Faunus as he sat back in his seat, all in awe at the immense strength the man had used to take care of the three brutes not mere seconds ago.

Eventually however chatter did return to the place as they all just silently agreed to not talk about or even acknowledge what had just transpired here.

All but one that is.

The waitress from earlier walked up to the Faunus and coughed lightly to gain his attention. Turning to her the deer Faunus quickly yet quietly spoke to the man

"Thanks for that, those guys have been like that every time they came in here and no one did anything about it."

The Grimm didn't know how to take this sudden praise, all he had wanted to do was get the three idiots to shut up , he failed to see anything righteous in what he had just done. But he elected to simply nod at her statement

"Also I don't mean to be rude but you don't have any Lien do you? You don't exactly look well off"

" _What is lien?"_ The Grimm thought to himself but then remembered humans had this weird currency system of theirs in order to buy stuff that they could honestly just steal if they had the spine.

That's what he had been planning to do when he came in here. Instead he simply shook his head as the woman nodded slowly.

"Figured as much. Well how about this, as thanks for helping me out back there I'll let you have anything you want off the menu for free. Just this once though ok" She added jokingly

The Grimm's eyebrows raised up at this wondering why this female was being so generous to him all of a sudden, still if she was offering he wasn't going to turn it down.

Looking down at the menu he thought for a few moments before turning back to the female

"Got... any... chicken...?"

 **A/N: So this is part 1 of the newly transformed Grimm's first day in Vale. Don't worry I will give him a name soon, in the next part in fact. In the meantime please review/critique/flame/bash with a rock all is welcome here. See you next time**


	3. Chapter 3 Trials and travels part 2

**A/N: So I look on the site this morning and apparently this story already has 30 followers. WWHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTTTT. Seriously guys I was not expecting this at all, thank you so much. Big thanks to Clutchvm, Luke shadowrider, Bluebunny9, 100 percent badass, ye lianhua, doomageddon101, Dreamweavergod and DragonwalkerDew for your stellar reviews. In response to your question dragon yes I did read that fic with the Grimm overlord and just thought it was a cool little word to call the Grimm's enemies other than just humans (Grimm heir, good fic recommend it). Anyways enjoy**

With the Grimm, eating was a choice, as in it was not vital to their survival. Indeed the creatures of Grimm could go for years without eating a single scrap of meat. And strangely enough they almost never ate animals, with any altercations between the two being mainly over territorial disputes.

That said one of the Alpha's fonder memories was when he was a young pup and his birth Mother gave him a half dead chicken to practise his first kill on. It was for that recollection alone that the Grimm had found himself gorging on a roasted chicken in the café after the previous incident.

While he still wasn't overly fond of humans he would admit, they knew their way with food. Though he did receive a few odd looks when he started crunching on the bones.

Seriously, that's the best part!

After finishing his meal he took note of how his stomach had stopped growling at him and upon looking at the reflective surface of his unused cutlery, he noticed a tad more colour in his face. Apparently that meal had done him some good after all

" _Something to remember then. Whilst in this body I actually need to eat."_ The Grimm mentally noted this down as he made his way out the café.

Upon exiting the café, the female from before offered him one last smile, to which he responded with another slow nod before making his way through the door.

With all that out of the way, he decided to return to his prior task of looking for the whereabouts of the red headed girl.

It was early afternoon and the sun burned brightly overhead, though the Grimm could spot small clouds on the horizon.

" _It's going to rain. Great"_ The young Beowolf thought disdainfully. He had always hated rain, it always got logged in his fur and stayed their for hours, leaving him feel heavy and cold.

Then again he didn't have fur anymore so it might not be so bad now.

On and on the Grimm walked through the busy streets, less frenzied than he had been before he got some food in his belly. On the way however he began to take note of something in his environment that quickly raised his concern. Tiny prickles in the back of his head indicated the presence of negative emotion In the area, what struck him as odd however was that the negative emotion was being directed at him.

Not all of them, but a few humans kept sending spiteful glares or hurried glances of fear his way as they passed him in the street. At first he worried that some of the humans had figured out his true identity but then he noticed where their looks were directed. More often than not they were directed at his ears and tail.

Upon noticing this, the Grimm's mind was taken back to the earlier encounter in the café with the human males and their attitude to the human female. His ears had easily picked up their comments towards the woman and most of them had been directed at her deer like body parts.

" _Maybe these Dustlings have something against the more animal like of their kin."_ Figuring that must be the case, the Alpha merely shrugged his shoulders and carried on his way, blatantly ignoring the looks he was being given. It was none of his business why some of these Dustlings had a grudge against others.

To a Grimm prey was prey. Simple as that

After a while, the Grimm stopped near a relatively empty main street and took a moment to reorient himself after getting turned around one too many times. Whilst doing this an older woman and her child stepped out of a nearby dust shop and waited at the crosswalk right next to where the Grimm stood. The child was very young if the Grimm had to guess and only came up to the female's kneecaps. Whilst the pair waited for the lights to change, the child stared up at the giant of a man next to him.

The Grimm was quick to notice the child staring up at him, and so he tilted his head down to meet the boy's stare.

" _I didn't know dustlings could get that small"_ He thought with mild bewilderment. For a while the two of them just stared at each other in equal measures of curiosity. Eventually the small human's eyes drifted downwards to the larger mans big, bushy tail. Following the boy's line of sight, the Grimm raised an eyebrow at the child's fascination with his tail. He did appear quite young so maybe he just hadn't seen this kind of person before.

The look in his eyes stirred up a sense of familiarity in the Alpha but he couldn't place where it was coming from. Regardless he decided to humour the little one by swishing his tail in a couple of lazy arcs. Immediately the child's eyes lit up with wonder at the sight and the Grimm felt his face start to twitch weirdly. Growing bold the small human reached out an equally tiny hand and started pawing at the man's tail whenever it came near. At one swing the little one actually grabbed on with both hands and held on tightly to the furry appendage.

Were it any other situation, at any other time, the Grimm would have thought nothing of mutilating anyone who attempted to touch his tail. But instead he just lifted his tail up into the air with the child still clinging on, and giving him a bemused look. The child in turn just grinned at him.

"Jake what are you doing, leave the poor man alone"

It seemed the mother had finally noticed what her child was up to, so the Grimm lowered his tail back to the floor and allowed the child to re-join his mother. The older female looked up at him with apologetic eyes.

"I'm so sorry if he was bothering you sir, he's always been really curious"

The Grimm failed to see what the small one had done to warrant an apology, but he elected to simply force a few words out to placate the mother.

"It's... OK"

It still hurt to speak but he was able to force the words out with a bit more clarity this time around.

The mother acknowledged his broken words and resumed looking forward with her child in tow.

Eventually a man appeared on the other side of the street and if the Grimm had to guess from the boy's loud reaction, this was probably his father. With a sudden tug the child was free from his mother's grip and ran forward, completely oblivious to the world around him. His mother called out but he was already far ahead.

And then the Grimm saw the oncoming disaster.

A fast moving car was barrelling down the road, the driver oblivious to what was in front of him until it was far too late to stop. The child's father's eyes widened in terror and he ran forward to try and throw his son out of the way. He wouldn't make it in time, the Grimm could see that.

For a single instant time slowed down around the Alpha as he watched the vehicle come closer and closer to colliding with the youngling. Without any conscious thought the Grimm's muscles tensed, his eyes narrowed...

And his body started to glow a deep blue.

In a single blink the Grimm suddenly found himself on the other side of the street, hunkered down to the floor. His ears picked up the tell tale 'Whoosh' of the vehicle as it sped past him and then abruptly stopped. But as he turned around he noticed there was no sign of the child who been running in the street seconds ago. No body not even any blood where there should have been loads. And then the sound of a child whimpering reached his ears, only it was coming from him.

Turning around and looking down the Grimm spotted the child, being cradled in his own arms. Immediately alarm bells went off in the Beowolf's head.

" _What did I just do, why did I just do it. This is a Dustling, they mean nothing to me"_ The Grimm screamed inside his own head

Before he could think about any of these questions however, the Grimm's chest started to rapidly constrict and an acute pain lanced through his head, as if nails were being driven into his skull. Letting go of the child rapidly, the beasts head darted around rapidly as a gathering of people started to crowd around the incident. The parents were staring at him with a mixture of shock and relief but he couldn't even begin to care about them right now. All of a sudden panic and fear him as he started to violently shake and shudder.

" _CAN'T BREATHE... NEED TO...GET...AWAY!"_

The Grimm started to glow blue again as he turned and sprinted away from the scene. What he failed to realise in his panicked state was that he didn't just run away.

To the gaggle of onlookers it looked as if he had just disappeared in a violent gust of wind. The only sign that there had been someone there in the first place was the small flecks of dirt kicked up by the man's hasty retreat

And large, frost covered footprints imbedded in the tarmac.

...

Before the Grimm could stop himself, the momentum from his sudden burst of speed caused him to rocket forward into an alleyway and crash headfirst into the wall. Disoriented and dazed it took a few moments for the panic stricken Alpha to realise where he was. When he did however his confusion only grew.

He was in the alleyway where he found the jacket... on the other side of the city

" _WHAT'S HAPPENING... TO ME!"_ The Grimm's thoughts started to become hazy and sluggish as the pain in his chest only worsened and seemed to spread throughout his body. Looking down at himself the poor beasts fear only worsened.

His body was now a bright, shimmering blue. And his arms weren't just shaking, they were vibrating at unnatural speeds.

" _I... CAN'T... STOP!"_

Desperately he shoved his hands into his armpits but that only caused the shakes to spread throughout his whole body. As the blue glow continued to sporadically fade and brighten around him

His vision blurred. His breaths were short, sharp and ragged. He could taste metal on his tongue. It hurt to think. It all became too much for the young Alpha and he collapsed onto the filthy floor.

Shaking and convulsing nonstop, the Grimm felt like being sick yet nothing would come up. Though he couldn't speak in his mind he was desperately crying out

" _SOMEONE... ANYONE... HELP"_

 _..._

"Mhmm I'm still not sure which pair would go better with my outfit. Velvet help me out here would you"

Coco Adel turned around and showed her fellow teammate two pairs of nearly identical, knee high boots. Personally the rabbit eared Faunus couldn't tell the difference between the two items of footwear, but her team leader had insisted that this would be a good team bonding exercise for the two girl members of team CFVY.

"Um, I think they'd both look good on you Coco" The girl offered to her friend half heartily

Coco regarded her teammates words for a moment, and then turned back to the two pairs of shoes

"True but I want to make sure I'm really getting my money's worth this time around"

With that Coco turned around and walked up to one of the boutiques assistants to get a second opinion. Velvet meanwhile sighed and looked out the window. The sun was starting to set now and it wouldn't be long before they'd have to make their way back to an airbus and ride it back to Beacon before they missed curfew.

... Again.

Feeling the need to stretch her legs and get some air, Velvet stood up and walked over to the clothing stores entrance.

"Coco I'm just gonna step outside for a bit"

Her leader gave her a half hearted grunt and wave of her hand in reply before returning back to her enquiries.

As she stepped outside, the brunette let out a soft sigh, it wasn't that she didn't enjoy spending time with her leader, far from it, but sometimes it could get a little exhausting for the poor girl. Velvet wasn't given much time to relax however as a small sound caught her ears attention. I t sounded somewhere between a whimper and a choking sound.

Apprehensively, the girl made her way over to a small alleyway where the sounds appeared to be coming from, noting the sudden drop in temperature as she grew closer to the area.

And the strange, frost covered boot prints that led into the alley. Turning the corner she let out a small gasp at the sight before her

Laying down, curled up on the ground was a man, slightly shorter than Yatsuhashi but still a great deal taller than herself and just as broad as her previously mentioned partner. He was some kind of dog type Faunus if the ears and tail were anything to go on and he was dressed in dark clothing with a tattered leather jacket clutched firmly in his arms.

And he was glowing a vivid shade of blue and shaking like he was in the middle of a very bad fit. Approaching cautiously, Velvet wondered just who this strange man was.

"Sir... are you ok"

The man's canine ears twitched at the sound of her voice, indicating he was at least semi aware of his surroundings. What he said next and how he said it caused the girl to quickly drop any traces of doubt she had in her mind.

"Help... me" The man all but choked out as he continued to twitch and spasm on the floor. Running over to him she gently grabbed his head and brought him upright to allow his airways to open fully.

She wasn't her teams de facto medic for nothing.

Looking down at his face for the first time, she saw he was actually quite young, maybe only a year or two younger than herself, and upon closer inspection realised the blue glow emanating from him was his aura.

" _I've never seen someone have this violent a reaction to their own aura before"_

Deciding now wasn't the time to dwell on the matter, Velvet concentrated on getting the Faunus's heartrate to slow down

"It's ok just breathe deep and slow, nice and easy, don't think about anything else just breathe"

She spoke in a soft yet commanding tone normally unbefitting the shy girl. Slowly the man's eyes started to come back into focus and the shudders started to decrease as he started to breathe slow and deep.

As he turned to look at her she allowed a small smile to cross her features

"It's ok. No ones going to hurt you, your fine. Everything will be fine"

...

As the Grimm slowly came back to the world he allowed himself to focus on the young rabbit type Faunus who was currently cradling his head like a new-born pup.

With the panic subsiding, the Alpha felt shame and humiliation curdle inside him like a knife. He quickly winced his eyes shut tight, refusing to allow another moment of weakness to seep through.

" _I hate this body"_ He thought " _So much"_

Quickly drawing away from the female he brought his knees up to his chest and then forced himself back to his feet.

" _I will STAND!"_ He shouted into his subconscious.

Velvet continued to look at him with a worried expression

"Are you sure you're okay?" She continued to keep a hand on his arm and he just didn't have the strength to shove her away, instead opting to just nod his head.

" _I've been doing that a lot today"_ He thought to himself dryly

"Do you want me to take you to a hospital or something?" The female said, still worried over his well-being

" _You wouldn't be if you knew what I really was"_

The Grimm shook his head and uttered a quiet "No" before turning away from her completely, Staring at the brick wall as if trying to burn a hole into it.

Before Velvet could get another word in, the sound of a shop door opening caught both of their attention

"Velvet" A second female voice called out " Where'd you run off too, I can't carry all this by myself"

Velvet looked back and forth between her teammate and the darkly dressed stranger, unsure of what to do.

Eventually the Beowolf made the decision for her and firmly yet gently grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her out of the alleyway. Before letting go he said one last thing to the girl. A repeat of what she had told him moments ago

"I'm... Fine... Thank you"

With that the man slunk back into the alley and disappeared from view.

...

The alpha watched from the rooftops as the two females reunited in front of the store. They were talking about something to do with footwear but the Grimm could hardly care less. What he was more interested in was the strange devices attached to their hips. It wasn't an exact match but they definitely had a similar look to the red cloaked girl's weapon. And they reeked of dust cartridges that the human warriors always seemed to carry with them.

" _This has been my only lead all day, I have to take it"_

With his decision made, The Grimm followed the two girls from the rooftops as they made their way through the city of Vale, the sun setting and sky darkening all the while. Eventually the Grimm found himself in front of an enormous airship, larger than any Nevermore he had ever seen. Watching as the Girls made their way inside the metal behemoth, he slunk down the side of the nearest building and hid near the entrance to the ship

As with the city gates, the entrance was guarded, and the Grimm no longer had the patience to wait for an opening. Grabbing a loose brick from the wall and yanking it free, he chucked it high up into the air.

And growled in satisfaction as it bounced off one of the guards helmeted heads. Two other guards ran over to where they thought the thrown object had come from. But by the time they got to the Grimm's hiding spot, he was already long gone.

Making his way as quickly and quietly as he could to the entrance, he slipped through the gateway completely unnoticed

Save for the security camera propped up out of sight near the entrance.

Keeping as far away from crowds as possible, he eventually found himself in the corner of the main deck. Fortunately there wasn't a large number of people on the airbus so he was able to get away with just standing in the corner.

A few minutes passed until eventually the airbus left the ground with a sudden lurch that caused the Grimm's stomach to clench in on itself. Mercifully he was able to keep it down

" _No I have suffered enough embarrassment for one day, if not for the rest of my life"_

As the airbus continued it's slow ascent upwards, the small clouds the Grimm spotted at the beginning of the day had made their way to Vale, only by this point they were now full on rainclouds.

" _Just as I predicted, rain"_

The alpha grimaced at the sight of the raindrops falling on the glass windows. Turning his attention to his hands however, struck up a sudden pang of curiosity in the shaggy haired Faunus. Spying a small window latch near his head he reached over and undid the clasp. Then with a light nudge he forced the small window near him open.

Immediately the sound of falling rain hit his ears along with the thrum of the ships engines. Taking a quick look around to ensure he wasn't being watched he returned to looking out the window.

Bringing up his right hand, He very slowly brought his and past the windows edge and allowed his arm to be opened up to the elements. At first he instinctively flinched his arm back as the first few drops of rain hit his palm, but then after a moment he allowed his hand to open up and feel the water droplets trickle through his palm.

It felt vastly different from his old body. Where in his Grimm form, getting caught in the rain would leave him with soggy fur and a clogged up snout, now the rain just washed off his smooth skin and left a pleasant cooling sensation on his arm.

The highlight came however when a small break in the cloud bank allowed the fractured moon to shine it's rays down upon the ship. He could almost feel the lunar rays wash over his body and for the first time in a long time he felt truly relaxed. It was if he was experiencing all these sensations for the very first time, even though he had seen it multiple times over his life.

In response to the night time sky being opened up to him, the Alpha could only think of one thing to say.

"Cool"

...

Ozpin was sitting quietly in his office, coffee mug in hand and going over some recent school reports, when his second in command and close friend Glynda Goodwitch strode in purposefully through his office doors. Face as stern as ever.

"Professor Ozpin" the headmaster of Beacon nodded once to show he was listening to the blonde huntress before she continued. "We have a stowaway on board one of the airships heading for the academy"

Ozpin let out a small hum of acknowledgement before Glynda wordlessly handed the grey haired man her scroll, displaying the security footage aboard the airbus

Taking his eyes off his work, he looked down at the security feed and immediately spotted the young man standing in the very corner of the room, practically invisible if one didn't already know he was there. He looked to be just an ordinary Faunus, but Ozpin knew Glynda wouldn't have thought to bother him if it was that simple. There was more to this and sure enough His assistant head elaborated to him

"I checked the criminal database for any sign of this individual and apparently, no records exist for this man, at all." Glynda paused for a moment expecting a response from the headmaster, when none came she added one final point " It's as if this person doesn't exist"

That piqued the headmasters interest somewhat but what Glynda said next grabbed his attention fully.

"From the brief physical scan we were able to get from this Faunus we have found that he has an unnaturally unstable aura"

Looking down at the Faunus in question, Ozpin watched as the man looked out the window with an almost child-like fascination.

" _How interesting"_

Standing up suddenly, the headmaster grabbed his cane as he walked round his desk and moved to walk out of his office. Glynda turned to look at him with a perplexed expression.

"Shall I inform the school faculty to bring him in for questioning?"

Ozpin turned to look at his co worker with a small smile on his face

"No need Glynda. I would like to see to this one personally"

...

In what felt like no time at all, the airbus had touched back on solid ground, and the hangar doors opened t reveal Beacon academy in all it's splendour. The Grimm exited as silently as he entered and took his first good look at the school.

It was massive, with huge, ornate spires stretching up to almost meet the sky, the one in the centre being the tallest of them all. Making his way down the central footpath, the Alpha took note of the stone statue that stood as the centrepiece in what he assumed to be the academy's courtyard. Aside from a few students making their way hurriedly back to their dorms, the area was completely deserted.

Upon making his way inside the main building, the Grimm's senses were assaulted with the now familiar scent of dust. But among the dust was a scent that caused all of his senses to go on high alert

" _The girl... Ruby Rose. She is here"_

Finally it seemed as if things were going to go his way. Al he had to do now was find the girl and choke a few answers out of her. First one being how to get back into his old body.

Before he could take another step however a soft male voice called out... directly behind him

"Well now aren't you a curious one"

As the Beowolf slowly turned around and came face to face with arguably one of the strongest huntsmen in Vale, a single solitary thought made its way into his head.

"OH COME ON!"

 **A/N: And now the Grimm's journey really begins. I know I said I would reveal the dudes name this chapter but some things got switched so I'm afraid your going to have to wait till next chapter. As always leave a review, let me know how I'm butchering you favourite web series and I will see you next week.**


	4. Chapter 4: welcome to beacon part 1

**A/N: I'm back. Apologies for the slight delay just got held up a bit with other stuff (Won't bore you with the details). For those wondering about the update schedule I hope to get out at least a chapter a week though I will do more if I can. Also 50 followers... you guys seriously you honour me. I honestly feel like I'm cheating and really don't deserve this much attention for my first fanfic ever, but I will take it and use it to better improve my work, it's what you guys deserve for liking this little experiment. Anyway enjoy the chapter.**

" _Well he didn't immediately attack me, that's a good sign"_

As the two continued to stare at each other in the middle of the hallway, Ozpin took a moment to observe the stranger who stood before him. He was maybe an inch or two smaller than himself, though that still placed him a great deal taller than most of his students. He was broad shouldered and the man could see the lithe, strong muscles running throughout the strangers body, the type of build one would expect on a sprinter. His neck length hair was also a strange mix of jet black with small streaks of midnight blue laced in-between.

This just confirmed to the older man that this was someone he had definitely never seen before, and considering who he was, that was saying something.

"I must admit I was surprised to hear someone actually snuck aboard one of our transports" Ozpin spoke directly, gaining a small amount of amusement from the stiffened posture of the younger man who clearly hadn't expected to be caught out so quickly.

Everything about the darkly dressed newcomer seemed off in small ways. The way he held himself looked unnatural and rigid, the look in his eye's was one of confusion and his ears and tail consistently twitching, betrayed how on edge he was.

With this closer inspection of the stranger, Ozpin was able to get a bit more of a sense of the man's aura and just as Glynda had said, this man's aura was strong, and unstable.

A dangerous combination to be sure.

"If you'll forgive me for a moment I would just like to check something if you don't mind"

Without even waiting for a response, Ozpin casually strolled up to the man and placed a flat palm against his head.

The Grimm Backed up into a wall and growled threateningly, but the grey haired man simply chuckled quietly and then simply closed his eyes and concentrated.

As the Grimm continued to wonder just what in the name of sanity was going on with this weirdo who had decided to grab his face, Ozpin focused on the aura of the mystery man.

An aura was a physical manifestation of a person's soul, so to be able to see a persons aura, was to see who they truly were.

What Ozpin saw raised his curiosity to a significant level of concern.

The man's aura was a deep blue in colour, The same shade as his eyes and it swirled around his body like wild fire, sparking and crackling in places but what struck out the most was not the colour or size of his aura but rather its shape.

Towering over the younger mans form was the silhouette of a giant Beowolf. As Ozpin continued to observe the aura, he saw all the experiences this person had been through throughout their life. For a solid seventeen years only two major emotions stuck out.

Anger and hatred.

Years of living outside of any human settlement, living with a pack of other savage animals. Years of hunting humankind, spilling blood and tearing apart families.

Years of darkness.

And then all of a sudden an explosion of new emotions entered the beast head, all very recent.

Pain, hunger, confusion, humiliation and fear.

Opening his eyes Ozpin regarded the man... no, Grimm before him with a half raised eyebrow being the only indicator to the mans internal conflict.

"Well now, this just became a little more interesting"

Whilst the Grimm continued to wonder what had just happened and if the male Dustling in front of him was just flat out insane, the headmaster of Beacon walked away from the confused Alpha

"I think it would be in you best interests, young man if you were to follow me to my office and explain your sudden visit to my school"

Ozpin spoke over his shoulder as he noticed the Grimm stay in place and continued to look around bewildered

"After all this is a school for aspiring huntsmen and huntresses, a Grimm such as yourself walking around the halls is bound to cause a panic"

At this statement, the Grimm's eyes widened as he realized this, strange male had figured out what he was.

As Ozpin continued to walk away, the Beowolf brought his claws up and prepared to gut the man who would no doubt reveal his identity and have him killed.

" _I have come too far and gone through too much to let this weirdo trip me up at the last hurdle"_

The Grimm stalked forward, fully prepared to claw the mans face off. Before he could take more than two steps however the headmaster turned around and lightly prodded the beast in the stomach with a long, silver cane. The look in the man's eyes spoke of years of experience and inner strength and in an instant the beast instinctively knew just from one look

This was one fight he would not win.

"I know you must be feeling really confused and afraid right now" The man spoke softly but his tone was all too serious " But trust me when I say that if you try and fight your way out of here, you won't get far. At least come with me and explain yourself so this doesn't have to come to blows. It's your choice"

The two continued their silent staring match as the moon shone down on them both through the hall length windows. The Grimm was fed up beyond belief, he just wanted to find one girl and he kept getting side-tracked. Seeing no other option available, the Alpha elected to simply lower his arms and nodded silently

Satisfied Ozpin lowered his cane and carried on walking down the hall. After a while the Grimm realised he was supposed to be following the older man and rushed slightly to catch up with him.

"I'm professor Ozpin by the way"

The Grimm merely grunted in reply, and that was the final line of communication between the two for several long minutes.

Silently the headmaster of Beacon and the Grimm turned Faunus walked through the quiet halls. Both wondering how the next few minutes would play out.

...

Glynda turned around upon the sound of the office doors opening once again, and frowned in confusion upon noticing the stowaway from the airship following the headmaster inside. The man in question stood maybe an inch or two taller than herself and seemed just as confused as she was as to why he was here.

Ozpin meanwhile, strode round to his desk and took a seat, gesturing for the stranger to do the same.

Slowly the Grimm walked up to the simple wooden chair on the other side of the desk, eyed it suspiciously for a moment and then took a seat.

And then promptly leapt up into the air with a startled yelp as he sat on his own tail.

" _Oh COME ON AGAIN!"_ The Grimm thought with a growl of frustration. The two dustlings merely gave him odd looks as he sat down again, more carefully this time, and then for a few moments there was nothing but silence in the large office space.

Eventually Glynda grew impatient and felt the need to address the tension in the room

"Sir might I ask why you felt the need to bring the stowaway up to your office. It would just be a simple matter of turning him over to the authorities and..."

"Grimm"

At this one word Glynda ceased talking and looked at the headmaster as if he had just grown a second head.

"Excuse me sir?"

"This stowaway is a Grimm Glynda" Ozpin spoke clearly, ensuring no part of his statement could be misinterpreted " An Alpha Beowolf type Grimm to be specific"

At First, Glynda wanted to believe it was some kind of joke, but upon looking at the serious expression on the headmasters face and indeed the sideways glance from the man in question, she quickly realised this wasn't a joke.

"That's impossible, there's never been an instance of a human Grimm in all of mankind's history, their aren't even any humanoid type Grimm outside of the nuk ..."

"Which is why I brought him up here, so that he might enlighten us as to how this interesting little change came to be" Ozpin spoke quickly, eager to get back on topic and not rile up their guest any further.

As he turned back to the young Grimm, Ozpin regarded the strange being in front of him who as yet had not spoken a word. This was a delicate situation that needed to be treated carefully. So he made sure to take note of the tightened grip Glynda now had on her riding crop and the wary look in her eyes as he addressed the Grimm

"So if you would young man, please explain how you came to be this way."

The Grimm regarded the two individuals for a time, seeing no other option but to put stress on his still sore vocal chords. Letting out a brief sigh, the Alpha opened his mouth and began his explanation.

"Ruby Rose... she... did this... to me"

His voice sounded raspy and coarse, as if he was trying to talk through a mouthful of rocks and Ozpin noted with interest how the Grimm rubbed at his throat after just this singular statement.

"Miss Rose is responsible you say?" The Grimm nodded silently at this affirmation " And do you remember how she caused this transformation exactly"

The Grimm took a moment to collect himself before carrying on

"The forest... She... cut me... Pushed me... into the...pit"

"Forest?" Ozpin questioned "Are you referring to the Emerald forest?"

Once more the Grimm nodded, letting out a few small coughs afterwards, clearly he wouldn't be able to talk for much longer.

" _So all of this must have happened during the entrance exams, meaning he's been like this for several days. Must have been very disorienting for him"_

As Ozpin continued to question the Grimm, he slyly brought out his scroll and started flitting through the cities surveillance, looking for any other sightings of the Grimm and to check if any of his recent actions had been... dubious in nature

"What do you mean by pit?"

The Grimm winced lightly as he recalled the still painful memories of his complete physiology being rewritten.

"Pit... in ground... full... of dust"

At this the Grimm started to cough more vocally, and the alpha could taste something metallic building in the back of his throat. Glynda meanwhile raised an eyebrow incredulously and stepped forward slightly.

"That doesn't make sense" She uttered out to the grey haired man as he sat silently in contemplation "Dust is toxic to Grimm, it should have killed him not, changed him like this"

"Hmmm" Was all Ozpin said in return as he continued to piece together this new mystery in his head, whilst also looking at the video feed in front of him

Currently he was watching as the Grimm stood at the side of a road next to a mother as her child ran onto the road one moment, and then mere seconds later, was on the other side of the street, holding the child in his arms as a car sped by.

Such a sudden burst of speed could have only been accomplished through the use of an aura, though from the looks of it, it had been unintentional on the Grimm's part as he looked around in panicked confusion at the onlookers. Then his aura started to violently sputter and shake throughout his body before he zipped out of sight again leaving only a trail of frost in his wake.

" _I have only seen this type of speed used in one person before"_ Ozpin thought to himself, a theory already constructing itself in his head, flipping his scroll around to show the Beowolf the footage

" This is you correct?" Ozpin asked directly, gaining a small bit of amusement as the Grimm looked at the strange device with an almost child like amazement in his eyes.

" _WHAT AND HOW?"_ The Grimm asked in his head as he stared at himself through the strange glass screen " _I'm standing right here, how am I also on this tiny box"_

Without even thinking the Grimm grabbed the device from the man and began examining it crudely, almost looking for the source of this bizarre, flat box. Glynda moved to snatch the scroll back but Ozpin merely held a hand up, a small twinkle of amusement in his eyes at the Grimm's newfound curiosity. Even Glynda had to hide a small smirk as the Grimm pressed the scroll's screen flat up against his face.

" _A creature born from darkness, acting more like a curious toddler is something I thought I'd never see"_ Ozpin thought to himself

Eventually the Alpha remembered being asked a question and nodded once more to the headmaster.

"interesting how despite the fact that you are a Grimm, you seem capable of generating an aura"

The Grimm gave him a very confused look upon the word aura and Ozpin felt his teacher instincts take over for a second

"Aura is the primary weapon used by huntsmen out in the field, it's a manifestation of their souls and can be used in a multitude of ways to enhance their combat prowess, such as sudden bursts of inhuman speed"

What surprised Glynda was that as the headmaster talked the Grimm seemed to actually listen to what he was saying, absorbing the information given to him.

"So... that light... was my"

"Your aura yes" Ozpin nodded, giving a small smile as the Grimm nodded to himself "But because of your, background it should theoretically not be possible for you to have any sort of aura to speak of"

The Grimm frowned at this statement "Why?"

Ozpin readjusted in his seat slightly " Ever since the dawn of human history, it has been believed that Grimm are the only creature's, on this planet that lack a soul, for you to have an aura is, impossible to put it simply"

The Grimm didn't know what to think of this information. If what the man was saying was true, then there should be no way he should be capable of having this, aura

Ozpin leaned all the way forward in his chair and spoke with a returned seriousness

"Young man, when Miss Rose struck you and you fell into the pit, did anything else happen to you. Try to think really carefully"

The Grimm's brow furrowed as he wracked his brain, trying to think of anything else that stood out. Again a voice that wasn't his whispered into his head, as soft as a bell's chime. Without thinking, the Alpha spoke aloud

"Rose petals"

"What was that" The blonde huntress said with a start, only just catching what the young Beowolf. Ozpin caught it clearly and stood up sharply, startling the other two

"Miss Rose's semblance"

Ozpin walked over to a window and looked out to the horizon, his mind working overtime to put all the pieces together

"Semblance?" the Grimm questioned

"Semblances are special abilities created by a persons aura, but unlike aura is completely unique to the individual" Ozpin spoke over his shoulder.

For a few silent minutes, Ozpin stood by the window, Glynda and the Grimm just staring at his back, until eventually the headmaster turned back to the other two

" I have a theory as to what happened." He paused to make sure the Grimm was listening fully before carrying on. "When miss Rose activates her semblance, rose petals are created as a sort of afterimage, a trace of her aura. It's possible that when you fell into the dust pit, and considering the magnitude of the reaction here I am willing to assume it was a liquid dust pit?"

The Grimm nodded as Glynda looked towards the headmaster incredulously. "Liquid dust"

" Only liquid dust could be reactive and volatile enough to allow this kind of transformation, and I have had my suspicion's about the presence of this rare form of dust existing in the Emerald forest ruins for quite some time" Ozpin nodded to his assistant before carrying on " When you fell into the liquid dust, some of miss Rose's petals must have fallen with you and reacted to the dust in the pit and the blood in your body. The dust recognised the petals as a creation from a human's aura and most likely used that as a base from which to form your new body, that's why you didn't immediately die when you fell into this pit. It also explains why your aura seems to primarily amplify your speed, just as young Ruby's semblance amplifies her speed."

The Grimm processed this information. He didn't fully understand it but he figured he knew enough now to get the general idea of what had happened to him. It was better than what he had before.

Which was nothing.

Ozpin stared intensely at the younger man. Already his mind had a few ideas as to what to do with this individual but there were a few more things he needed to check

"Why did you come to Beacon, Grimm"

The Alpha blinked at this statement but nonetheless answered. He wasn't sure why but as this conversation carried on he felt something in him say he could trust this man.

Partially at least

"I... wanted to... find Ruby. Find ouwi... Out if she could... change me back"

Along with savagely beat her, but he didn't think revealing this little tidbit of information would win him any favours

Ozpin doubted the Grimm was telling him the whole truth, but he wasn't lying either so he decided not to push it. "Do you still wish to change back?" He asked

"Yes" There was no hesitation in his voice here. These past several days had been nothing but a headache to the Grimm and he was eager to get back to his old body.

Ozpin and Glynda both frowned at this blunt statement from the beast, but as Ozpin thought some more about the situation, an idea came to him

A risky idea, but if it worked it could prove to be a huge advantage for the human race as a whole.

"Very well Grimm I would like to offer you a deal" The Grimm stood up and walked up to face Ozpin directly. " I can offer you shelter here at my school and during your time here myself, and my fellow members of staff will work to find a way to get you back into your old body"

The Alpha almost couldn't believe his sudden turn of luck. In fact he didn't believe it.

" _There's a catch here, there has to be"_ and sure enough the catch came

"However whilst here it would look strange to my students to see a random teenager roaming around the campus, who doesn't even attend classes. So whilst staying here it would be in your best interests to act as a late entry student and walk amongst them, rather than try to hide from them at all times"

Whilst the thought of interacting with even more humans just made the Grimm feel even more exhausted, the fact of the matter was he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. It was either blend into the crowd and hold his temper long enough to get his body back, or hide in the shadows at all times like a flimsy, frightened Geist. An idea that was less than appealing to him

He supposed he would just have to grit his teeth and endure more of these inane Dustlings. Saving his already torn vocal chords anymore grief, The Grimm nodded once more to the grey haired man

Ozpin smiled "Alright then. Glynda..." Ozpin turned to his assistant " If you wouldn't mind preparing a room for our newest student, whilst I start writing up a new identity for our newest member of Beacon academy, I imagine it would look suspicious if we just stuck to calling him Grimm all the time.

Glynda appeared conflicted for a moment, before finally nodding to her superior and walking out of the office.

Ozpin meanwhile took his seat back at his desk and pulled out a sheet of blank transcripts and began filling out the necessary paperwork.

Meanwhile the Grimm having nothing to do, elected to simply walk around the office space, observing the various items on display.

Coming across a shelf, the Alpha spied a glass plate covered in what appeared to be brown circles that themselves were dotted with tiny black bumps. Picking one of these circles up and giving it a cursory whiff, he realised it was a food of some sort. Feeling daring (And making sure the grey haired Male known as Ozpin wasn't looking) he took a small bite of the round object

And then he chomped down on the whole thing.

And then he reached back for the plate and started eating the round treats with such ferocity it almost looked like he was inhaling the snacks by the dozen.

Upon the sounds of rapid fire munching reaching his ears, Ozpin looked up to see the Grimm on the other side of his office, gorging himself on a plate of cookies he had left out for himself for later. The Grimm almost comically froze upon noticing that he was being watched, but when Ozpin gave him a simple hand gesture of 'carry on', He returned to the tray cookies with eager abandon. Ozpin allowed a light smile to grace his features as he watched the Grimm continue to munch on the plate of cookies with an all too familiar vigour

" _It appears her speed wasn't the only trait you inherited from miss Rose, young Grimm"_

 _..._

After a few minutes of waiting, The Grimm having long since eaten all the cookies in Ozpin's office, Glynda returned to the office announcing that a room had been prepared for the Alpha in a small, unused storage room.

Next to a boiler.

"Thank you Glynda, would you mind escorting our new student to his room"

Glynda nodded once before turning out the room once more. The Grimm went to follow but stopped when the headmaster called him back

"Just a few things to keep in mind before you retire for the evening" Ozpin waited a few moments to make sure the Grimm was listening before carrying on "From now on your name is Fenrir Lupus and you are a late notice student from Menagerie"

" _Fenrir Lupus huh"_ The words meant absolutely nothing to the Grimm but evidently they meant something to Glynda who merely rolled her eyes at the mention of the name. " _Well whatever, if that's what these Humans want to call me I can live with it_ "

"Also because of your late entry we will be unable to assign you to a team but that shouldn't raise too much suspicion within the student body, you are a latecomer after all"

The Grimm took it all in for a moment before nodding to the headmaster, and following the Blonde woman out the door

"Welcome to Beacon Fenrir Lupus" Ozpin called out as the door to his office shut closed.

Much like the trip to the office, the trip back was spent in complete, tense silence. Night had long since fallen over the school and most of the students had retired to their dorms for the evening, or were planning to do so

Heading down a flight of steps to the lower levels of the school, Glynda eventually led the Grimm to a small, wooden door and opened it to reveal the interior

It looked like a storage room that had been hastily renovated to allow a person to live in it. Bits and pieces of unused equipment and tools lay scattered all over the place and dust hung thick over everything, even the air was musty and dry.

In the centre of it all lay a simple bed with plain , blue sheets and a steel grey desk with a singular chair. Fenrir's ears also picked up the tell tale thrumming of a boiler working hard in the next room over.

" _I've seen caves with better living conditions than this... Hovel"_ Fenrir thought with mild disgust.

" Your uniform, timetable and essential school supplies will be delivered to your room tomorrow morning" Glynda spoke, the vey embodiment of cold professionalism as Fenrir walked further into the room, observing the singular window that hung above the place, allowing a small sliver of moonlight to seep through and illuminate the place, though barely

Before leaving the Grimm to it however, the Blonde huntress walked up to the slightly taller man and hit him with a glare as hard and sharp as an icicle

"A fair warning to you, Grimm." Glynda said threateningly " I don't fully know why Ozpin wishes for you to integrate with the rest of the students, but if you harm or attempt to harm a single one of them under my watch I will put you down"

Fenrir recognised the threat, and responded in kind. Stepping closer to the female he let out a long, low snarl, his tail swishing angrily behind him

" _I would sooner eat rocks and cluck like a chicken before I let myself be intimidated by a pathetic little dustling like you woman"_

Cold, dark blue eyes glared scathingly into lime green orbs, before eventually Glynda turned away and slammed the door behind her.

Letting out a small snort, Fenrir sat down upon his new bed and looked around his new room a bit, before letting out a great big sigh of exhaustion

" _This has just been... a terribly exhausting... frustrating day"_

All day he had searched for the girl in red and he hadn't even seen her yet, but he knew she was here, somewhere, and somehow that just made it more frustrating.

" _Ozpin says he can help me get back my true form. Whether or not he can do it I don't know. I'll just have to play it by ear for now"_

As he shifted about on the stiff mattress, Fenrir became aware of a strange lump in one of his jacket pockets. Fumbling around a bit he found and pulled out the offending item and saw it to be more pieces of clothing. Lying them out flat they appeared to be a pair of black leather gloves, though the finger parts were strangely absent.

" _Weird"_

Shrugging his shoulders, Fenrir worked the gloves onto his hands, flexing and twisting the old fabric in the process. Satisfied Fenrir looked up to the moonlight once more. Soon Fenrir's eyes became heavier and heavier, his body had gone for days without sleep and it just couldn't hold up anymore.

Slowly lying down, not even bothering to remove his boots, The Beowolf now known as Fenrir Lupus closed his eyes and slipped away from the realm of consciousness. Above the shattered moon continued to shine its light upon the small storage space. As he slept one half of the wolf Faunus's body was bathed in light.

And the other was wreathed in darkness.

 **RWBY: A GRIMM FATE VOLUME 1**

 **Theme: "Only human" by rag and bone man**

 **A/N: and now our surly protagonists adventures truly begin in the world of Remnant. Also yay I finally named this bastard, was getting tired of just calling him Grimm all the time. Let me know what you think of his name in your reviews if you would be so kind, thank you very much. Also for timelines sake this all takes place after the events of chapter 10 but before the events of chapter 11 in volume 1, for those who were curious. As always let me know what you thought and I will see you next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5 welcome to Beacon part 2

**A/N: so yeah this took a while to get out so I apologize for that. On the plus side 70 FOLLOWERS YAY! (party popper in the background), all seriousness guys thank you so much. It will never cease to amaze me just how many of you in such a short span of time have taken an interest to this little project of mine. Anyways I won't keep you enjoy!**

 **Edit: Also Dreamweavergod don't worry, that will be coming soon and I am looking forward to it.**

All was quiet in the Emerald forest, the fractured moon shining down from high above the canopy. However even the lunar rays couldn't come close to penetrating the dark interior of the massive cavern that led away from the ancient, stone ruins. Even the glow from the liquid dust pit had long since faded away.

The lack of light however, did nothing to hinder the progress of the caves newest occupant. Especially when said person was generating a small plume of fire from their palm.

Glass heels hitting stone floor echoed throughout the expansive cave system as the woman strode purposefully yet gracefully towards the large stone pit embedded in the floor, golden eyes burning in the darkness.

A week ago this pit was full of glowing liquidised dust ready to be used should the need have ever arisen. Now however the pit was as luminous as lime water. Such a rapid change could only mean one thing.

The dust's reactive properties had been all used up, the pit was now inert. Useless

The woman let out a tiny 'tsk' of annoyance and started looking around the area to search for any clue's that could indicate what could have caused this sudden change in the pit's contents.

The liquid dust had only ever been a backup plan in-case the original plan failed in any way. This rare form of dust was indeed powerful but still far too volatile to be of any practical use in the long run. Despite all this, the fact that something or someone had tampered with this natural power source, did not sit well with the woman.

Looking around the cavern, the woman caught sight of the cracked glass panelling that took up a sizable portion of the far right wall, it had been installed in order to observe the pits unwilling guardian's.

Guardians who had long since vanished or been killed.

Walking up to the wall, the woman took special note of exactly how the glass had been broken. The cracks all stemmed from one epicentre, indicating that whatever had hit the wall had done it with a considerable amount of force. Narrowing her eyes, the dark haired woman traced the cracks in the glass and noticed an imprint in the glass.

An imprint of a human fist.

Looking down, she also noticed bare footprints in the dirt that led all the way from the inactive dust pit, to the cavern's walls.

Silently she walked to up to the rocky ledges and peered up the at the cliff face towards the bright moon high above.

While the contingency plan had been a bust, it appeared something new had arrived to take it's place.

In the dark of the night Cinder Fall allowed a small smirk to cross her features

"Interesting"

...

A shrill, sharp beeping sound was the first thing to greet Fenrir as he awoke from a light slumber. At first he thought he was being attacked by some kind of rabid bird and immediately went on the defensive.

Springing off of the mattress, claws and teeth bared, body lowered to the floor, Fenrir was initially confused when he couldn't find any kind of threat near his position. As his eyes refocused however he noticed the sound was coming from a small, grey rectangle, steadily vibrating on the plain looking desk.

" _That wasn't there last night... was it?"_

Walking up to the strange device slowly, the Grimm reached down to pick up the still beeping box. A small yellow diamond sat in the centre of the box, flashing in time with the shrill beeps. Not seeing any other options, Fenrir placed a clawed finger onto the diamond and lightly pushed.

Immediately the beeping ceased and the device suddenly expanded lengthways, causing the startled Alpha to almost drop the bizarre box, to reveal a semi transparent screen with small icons running down the left side. In the centre of the new screen was a picture of the schools bizarre headmaster.

" _Ozpin if I'm remembering correctly"_ Fenrir thought to himself as all at once the voice of the headmaster spoke out from the device

"Good morning mister Lupus" came the smooth tones of the grey haired male, sounding far too chipper for the Beowolf's liking, especially this early in the morning.

" _Never was a morning person"_

"Today marks the start of your first day at Beacon. Due to your background I thought it pertinent to give you some small pieces of information before you start the day proper, so as to start with your best foot forward so to speak."

As the man continued to talk on the box, Fenrir noticed a small pile of items stacked on his chair neatly, with a small, grey bag hanging off the back of the chair.

"Firstly the device you are currently holding is called a scroll" The man explained " In simple terms it is used as a form of long distance communication between both staff and students alike. For example you could call me right now and speak to me, and I wouldn't even need to be in the same room as you"

The explanation made sense to Fenrir, but he doubted he would get much use out of this... scroll

" _I'm going to avoid talking with these Dustling's as much as I can, why would I wish to communicate with them from far away"_

"Also as you've no doubt already discovered, it can also function as an alarm to wake you up in the morning so as to not risk being late for classes"

" _Oh so that's what that was"_ The Grimm thought to himself, making a mental note to remember that for the future.

"Along with this are also a few essential items I have left on your chair" The man continued "Two sets of the school uniform, that you will have to wear at all times during school hours. Think of it as a camouflage, allowing you to blend in with your environment easier. Finally in the small rucksack you will find a pen, pencil and notepad, with which to write down important information you will learn in your classes, to remember for later use"

Sure enough, rummaging around in the bag revealed a stack of paper, a weird, yellow, wooden stick and a weird, blue, plastic stick.

" _I don't have the slightest clue how these things work or what there for"_ Fenrir thought despairingly _"Well whatever I'm sure I'll figure it out, just like everything else"_

"Finding a way to get you back into your old body could potentially take a significant amount of time" Ozpin carried on, as Fenrir picked up the stack of clothing and unfolded it on his bed "So it is vital that you learn how to blend in with the rest of the student's and behave as they would. If they found out you were actually one of the monsters they were being trained to fight against, they would not hesitate to kill you"

Fenrir snarled viciously at this statement.

" _They'd be welcome to try!"_

"But as long as you don't do anything rash or excessively violent, you should have no problem fitting with the rest of my students, I will check in with you weekly to monitor your progress. Finally if you click the small rectangle on the left it will reveal your timetable for the rest of the term, showing where you need to be at certain times of the day. The staff have been informed of your true nature, but that won't stop them from punishing you for being late to their classes."

Fenrir couldn't help but snort derisively at the end of the message, Ozpins image blinking out of existence.

" _And what if anything, could you simple minded Dustling's possibly teach me in the ways of combat that I don't already know"_

With the message from Ozpin finished, Fenrir closed the scroll and took the time to study his new 'uniform'.

The material was in much better condition than the clothes he was currently wearing, though that was probably due to the fact he slept in his clothes, which were now heavily creased. The uniform consisted of a plain white shirt, black trousers, red tie, blue V-neck jumper and a black blazer with gold trimming. Very simple in it's design yet Fenrir was hardly one to criticise

" _At the very least it smell's better than what I'm currently wearing"_ Fenrir noted with mild self disgust.

A solid week of running around in a forest, baring all to the world had left him smelling none too fresh.

Looking around, Fenrir spotted a small sink, tucked away in a corner of the room that looked just as unused as the rest of the former storage space. Checking the taps to see if they even still worked, Fenrir noted with surprise that they did indeed still function and decided that this would do, as a method of cleaning himself.

Removing his clothes and dumping them unceremoniously onto his bead, Fenrir began the long overdue task of cleaning himself.

Taking great handfuls of water and chucking it over himself, the Grimm washed the day's old grime and dirt from his body. The water was ice cold and stung his body, but he endured it without complaint.

It's not like the lakes and waterfalls of remnant were any warmer.

After finishing up, removing the gunk and filth from his hair by literally shoving his head under the tap and scraping his nails through it like a rake, Fenrir shook himself dry. He felt a little bit cleaner so he was willing to call this little endeavour a success and walked back to his new uniform.

It fit him much better than his old ensemble, but this just raised some very alarming questions in Fenrir's mind.

" _How and When did they get my measurements?"_

Deciding that this was one of those questions he was better off not knowing, he finished up donning his uniform. The tie had been pre-made so Fenrir needed to only slip it round his neck, which was just as well because if it hadn't, the impatient Beowolf wouldn't have bothered. The last article of clothing was the blazer, but as Fenrir picked it up his eyes were drawn back to his bed.

The faded leather jacket sat on top of the crumpled heap of clothes. Even Fenrir knew the jacket was in a sorry state, torn in several small places and nicked in others. Looking back to the thin fabric in his hands, he could see the blazer was in much better condition.

With all this in mind, Fenrir tossed the blazer over his head, picked up the jacket and reaffirmed it to his body, Grabbing the sleeveless gloves for good measure.

Nodding to himself, he picked up his new bag and slung it over his shoulders, making his way out of the room. Taking his scroll out of his trouser pocket, he took the opportunity to take a look at his new timetable.

The timetable consisted of a list of names and a series of numbers. He assumed the names alluded to subjects that he would have to sit through, but what the numbers meant he had no idea.

" _Grimm studies... 9:00am... What does that mean?"_

Looking to the top of the scroll's screen, Fenrir noticed another number, this one listed as 8:45. looking outside a nearby window, the Alpha noted the position of the sun in the sky and figured it was still early in the morning.

" _Think... humans like to put numbers to thing's that don't need them."_ The Wolf Faunus racked his brain trying to figure out how human time keeping worked. An important puzzle piece fell into his lap when he turned a corner and saw a clock hanging on the wall. Walking up to the device, Fenrir counted the numbers running along the clock face

" _12 Numbers one through to twelve. Two hands, one moving faster than the other"_

After a painfully long time, the Grimm figured out that he had around about fifteen... clicks(?) to get to his first class

" _So 9:00am means nine in the morning. Oh Oum this is going to be a headache to remember"_

Rubbing his temples after being forced to exercise his brain this early in the morning, Fenrir carried on down the long hallways of Beacon. Using the directions listed in the scroll to guide him where he needed to be

Hoping that the rest of the day wouldn't be as needlessly frustrating.

...

With less than ten minutes to spare, Fenrir arrived at the moderately spacious interior of the classroom. He wasn't the first to arrive but judging by the various seats still unoccupied, he wasn't late either.

Those students who were already in their seats, their eyes were immediately drawn to the massive form of the new student who rather loudly stomped through the doorway.

Fenrir paid them no mind and instead chose a seat near the front of the class to place himself in, figuring the teachers would want to keep an eye on him.

" _Got to make sure I'm on my best behaviour"_ The Grimm thought with no small amount of sarcasm.

Meanwhile Fenrir's lupine ears worked on surveying the conversation's going on around him, most of them as expected centred around him.

"... Whose the new guy?"

"... I ain't ever seen him before"

"... Maybe he's a transfer or something"

"... whoever he is he's huge, I mean damn!"

".. Oh good another Faunus, as if we didn't have enough of those crawling around the school like rats"

Blocking out the mundane conversations around him, Fenrir sat down on the cushioned chair. Less than a second later he was standing upright again after yet again sitting on his tail.

" _WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO REMEMBER!"_

Catching the muffled giggles of some students behind him, Fenrir promptly silenced them with a glare that promised nothing less than pain if they carried on tittering behind him.

With five minutes to go, a group of four female's entered the steadily filling classroom, looking particularly out of breath which could only mean they ran here. The girl at the front was also the shortest of their group, sporting long, white hair done up in a ponytail and icy blue eyes. Her skin was off a pale complexion similar to his own, but where his was rough and calloused from the days spent trekking through the forest, hers was practically flawless, save for a small scar running down her left eye.

Behind her was a much taller female with dark black hair and amber eyes. She also wore a large, black bow on her head, but where the eyes could be fooled, a Beowolf's sense of smell was without equal.

" _She's a Faunus as well, but she seems to be trying to hide it. Interesting"_

Following her was someone who caused the Grimm to almost jump up in alarm.

" _The blonde. From the forest!"_

Indeed there she was, exactly how he remembered her. Long, golden hair that flowed down her body like wild fire, and eyes of lilac. She was also the tallest of the group and from what little he could tell from this distance, the most well built, the other two having thinner, more nimble frames whereas the blonde was seemingly packing a lot more muscle.

But if Fenrir was surprised before, it was nothing compared to the reveal of the final member of this female quartet.

A cold dread washed down through the Beowolf's body as he looked gazed upon silver eyes once again

" _It's her, the girl in red... Ruby Rose"_

There was no mistaking it. If the eyes weren't a dead giveaway, the long red cloak that she wore was. Not to mention the short black hair that was naturally complimented with dark red highlights. His whole reason for being in this school was standing literally feet away from him, completely unaware of his inner panic.

A part of him just wanted to forget whatever promises he had made and just run for the girl, hold her down by her neck and make her pay for making him go through this living hell he had been subjected to. Another part of him just wanted to run away, run away in fear from the female who had injured him, who had mutated and disfigured his body into this weak, feeble form.

With these two ideas waging war in his mind, Fenrir became as still as a statue, his eyes never once leaving Ruby's form.

...

"Ruby you dolt" Weiss all but yelled at her team leader "We were almost late for class because of your last minute cookie run, could you at least try to be a little aware of the time before you just run off like that"

Ruby for her part just stood there, smiling sheepishly as her partner continued to scold her. She hadn't meant to make her team almost late, if Jaune hadn't said there were still some left over cookies in the student kitchen, none of this would have happened.

Eventually Weiss finished her mini lecture, allowing the younger girl to realize the fact that she was being watched. Turning her head to the side, the silver eyed girl locked eyes with a pair of deep navy pools.

Sitting in the front row of the class where her team usually sat, was a tall, shaggy haired wolf Faunus, glaring at Ruby in a strange combination of utter fury and complete terror. His skin was an almost ghostly white and his hair was a dark black similar to her own, but where hers was interlaced with crimson locks, his had small streaks of midnight blue woven in between.

For a short while the two stared at each other, one In confusion the other in contempt, until eventually the boy looked away at the floor, growling under his breath.

" _Okay... that was weird"_ Ruby had no idea who the strange man was but apparently he knew her if that look was anything to go by. As she tried to think where, if ever she had seen the darkly dressed man, her sister brazenly walked up to the man and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hello~" Yang called out in a sing-song voice, seemingly unaware of the man visibly tensing at the sudden contact. "Sorry but what would you mind standing up for a second, me and my team need to get to our seats"

If Fenrir was in a panic before, now he was at a complete loss for what to do. Of all the spots he chose to sit, he had to have chosen the spot right next to... _her_.

For a solid minute, Fenrir just stared up at the blonde like a gormless idiot, until eventually he raised himself up out of his seat.

"Thank you" The girl called out, seemingly unaware of his brain stalling for a full minute, as she sidled past him and took a seat on the far end of the row. Next was Ruby Rose herself and Fenrir unknowingly held his breath as she walked past, as if expecting her to just turn around and decapitate him with that scythe of hers.

Again Ruby only gave him a weird look and an awkward chuckle as she made her way past his hulking frame. Immediately following her was the bow wearing Faunus and then finally the white haired girl, both of whom just gave him small nods as he let them past.

Mercifully he wasn't sitting right next to the cloak wearing girl, which was just as well because if he was, he wasn't entirely sure he would have been able to cope with the stress.

Not long after thankfully, a person who looked like the teacher of this class walked in and the incessant chatter in the room died down somewhat. The professor was an elderly male dustling, with a fairly rotund belly and quite possibly the single most ridiculous piece of facial hair the Alpha had ever seen.

" _It looks almost alive, what is that!"_

The Grimm studies professor looked around his classroom until his eyes fell onto Fenrir himself.

At least he assumed he was looking at him, it was difficult to tell underneath the thick, grey eyebrows the man had. For a moment the elder male looked at the person he knew was a Grimm with a thoughtful look, whilst Fenrir tried to keep his face as neutral as possible.

After a moment of internal debate, the professor turned away from the Grimm and addressed the rest of his class.

"Settle down students, settle down" The man spoke in a jovial tone as the class chatter died down "Now I'm sure all of you are eager to begin today's exciting lesson in to the nature of the fiendish Grimm"

Fenrir picked up the sound of muffled groaning coming from the back rows, indicating that most of the students were not exactly as 'eager' as the elder man hoped.

"But before we begin I would like to introduce you all to a new huntsman in training. He's a latecomer from Menagerie who due to health issues was unable to attend initiation. Nevertheless he is here now so please give a warm beacon academy welcome to Fenrir Lupus. Stand up if you please mister Lupus"

Suddenly being put on the spot like this did not sit well with the young Grimm. With no other alternative however he merely stood up in his chair again as a half hearted clapping sound issued around the classroom.

"My name is Professor Port. We hope you enjoy your time with us here at this prestigious academy, and as long as you stick to the rules, your time here shall be what you make of it which I hope will be a substantial learning experience"

Amidst all the complex words, Fenrir could pick out the veiled warning in the older male's words.

 _Do anything we don't like and you can kiss your old body goodbye._

Frowning lightly, Fenrir merely nodded at the man's words before taking his seat again.

"Now with that out of the way we can begin the lesson. Today we shall be covering King Taijitu habitats and nesting behaviours, which interestingly enough relates back to a story from my youth..."

The class collectively sighed as they hunkered down for another of professor Port's long winded stories that were still debated as to whether or not they were even true.

Fenrir meanwhile brought out his stack of paper and the yellow stick from his bag and prepared to play the part.

The part of your average student at beacon academy.

...

Fenrir was truly amazed, before this day he had thought he knew what it felt like to have nothing to do but wait around. But today he was proven wrong.

Now he knew what it felt like to be completely and utterly _bored out of his skull_.

All the man did throughout the majority of the lesson was talk on and on, his very voice becoming white noise in Fenrir's ears. The tale itself was so rampantly expressive and exaggerated that the Grimm honestly doubted it's validity. Next to him the white haired girl appeared to be writing down notes whenever the man stopped to take a breath or whenever he said anything of actual relevance to the subject matter they were supposed to be learning.

Eventually the man did finish his story but that didn't stop him from talking as he continued to actually teach the class about the nature of Grimm.

Fenrir for his part could barely make heads or tails of any of the verbal jargon being thrown his way, his brain seemingly unable to retain any of knowledge he was being subjugated to. Eventually he tried copying down some notes in his book, but only succeeded in snapping his pencil in half from applying too much pressure. After that Fenrir just gave up on trying to learn anything and simply placed his head in his hands and waited out the clock.

" _And these humans have to do this all day everyday in order to become warriors? Sounds like very unusual torture"_

After a long **long** time a loud beeping sounded out from inside the classroom indicating the lesson was over.

At least that's what Fenrir hoped it meant.

Once his suspicion was confirmed to be correct, the Alpha couldn't have gotten out of the room fast enough, the professor giving him one last look on the way out

" _Well that was a complete waste of time"_ Fenrir thought bitterly. A solid three hours had gone by and in that time the Grimm felt as if he hadn't learned a thing. Wasn't that the whole point of this place or had he missed something.

After wandering through the halls, intent on putting as much distance as possible between himself and the team of four females, Fenrir turned back to his scroll to see what lesson he had next. Seeing that he still had an hour until his next class. Deciding what to do in the meantime became easy when Fenrir's gut started complaining again.

" _Oh right, almost forgot"_

The only problem now was that he had no idea where to go to get food from. Eventually a large group of students passed by him and seeing little else in the way of options, the Alpha decided to follow the group from a distance and see if they would lead him to anywhere significant.

His hunch proved correct when the group led him to a massive hall full of long tables and benches. And at the end of the hall, Fenrir could smell the tray's full of food just waiting for him to sink his teeth into.

After procuring a simple meal for himself, the Beowolf looked around the cafeteria to see if there were any vacant seats that were also out of the way. Unwillingly, Fenrir's eyes were drawn to a table of eight.

Four of whom the Grimm was already acquainted with. Looking further, Fenrir spotted an empty seat at the end of the table, as if the fates were practically inviting him to sit next to the female's.

" _Nope"_

Turning around on his heel, Fenrir speed-walked his way to the other side of the cafeteria as quickly as he could. On the way the oblivious Grimm nearly tripped up and face planted on to the hard tiled floor. At first he assumed he had simply tripped on his own feet as he had been prone to do over the past several day's, until he heard a bout of not so subtle chuckling coming from behind him.

"Oops, sorry about that Fido"

A dustling male a few inches shorter than himself with short brown hair and the smuggest expression on his face that the Grimm had ever seen. Fenrir just caught sight of the Dustling's leg as it slid back under the table. While Fenrir would have loved nothing more than to simply tear the arrogant fool's head off, he quickly had to remind himself that he was no doubt being watched by the staff and that such an act would probably not be considered typical student behaviour. As it was he merely shot a hate filled glare at the idiot who tried to trip him up, and carried on his way.

Eventually coming across a vacant table tucked into the corner, Fenrir sat himself down and tucked into his meagre meal, people watching as he went. The amount of people packed into this one room was truly astounding to the Grimm, not even his old packs could compare to the number of young Dustling's that were in this single area.

Yet despite all these humans to look at, Fenrir's attention was near constantly drawn back to the same four girls, specifically the red haired leader who maimed him. They appeared to be just talking to each other, though about what Fenrir had no idea. He just didn't know what to make of them.

Half of him just wanted to kill them, the other half just wanted to get as far away from them as possible. It was all very confusing for the befuddled Grimm who normally just answered all his problems by killing them.

Something else did grab his attention however in the form of a familiar face. The rabbit eared Faunus from the alleyway who stopped his aura from tearing him apart. Apparently she remembered him if the shocked expression on her face was anything to go by. She looked around, as if to make sure no one was watching, and then offered him a small wave and a soft smile.

Fenrir blinked, unsure as to what to do before eventually offering the small girl a light nod and a sloppy attempt at a hand wave in return.

Seemingly satisfied with this response, the brunette carried on to her own table, no doubt to the rest of her team.

" _Strange girl"_

With that out of the way, Fenrir carried on with his light lunch, still unable to stop his eyes from darting to the four girls far away from him yet feeling so unbearably close by.

...

" _This place is a maze. WHERE IN THE NAME OF DUST AM I"_

According to his scroll he had less than ten minutes to find the classroom where sparring practice was being held.

Whatever sparring meant.

Despite the clear instructions listed in his timetable, the Alpha couldn't make head's nor tails of the thing.

" _What In The name of Remnant is a MEZZANINE FLOOR!"_

"Lost Mr Lupus"

Fenrir practically leaped out of his skin as the sound of a male voice right next to his ear appeared out of nowhere. Turning around he discovered the voice belonged to professor Ozpin. The man in question merely smiled in amusement at the Grimm's belated reaction

"How... did... you?"

"I believe you have sparring practice with professor Goodwitch at this time, am I correct?"

Dazed and confused, Fenrir could do no more than nod at the grey haired man's question

"Well your not to far away" The headmaster assured him " It's just down those stairs there then turn right, it should be right in front of you"

Fenrir turned around and indeed spotted a flight of stairs leading downwards.

"If that will be all, I shall leave you to your classes, carry on Mr Lupus"

And with that Ozpin turned around and walked down the corridor to the right. Fenrir stared at his back for a few seconds before shaking his head and stalking after the strange headmaster

" _Hold on, you need to explain just how you were able to sneak up on me like that"_

But as Fenrir turned the corner to where Ozpin just was, he only found an empty hallway instead. Fenrir's head practically spun on his neck as he looked around for the missing professor, almost expecting him to burst out of the walls. When he could find no trace of the man, Fenrir felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine, and he made a quick retreat to the staircase.

" _Of all the strange human's I have met so far, he is by far the weirdest of them all"_

 _..._

Turns out Professor Goodwitch was in fact the blonde huntress from last night who had offered him a warm welcome in the form of a death threat. Like professor Port she gave him a very pointed look as he entered the room, though hers was filled with far more animosity than his had been.

It was a look that was shared as the Beowolf glared at her with the full extent of his rage. He was prepared to hide himself among the human's, what he wasn't going to do was submit to them in any way.

It appeared the four females also shared this class with him though he was smart about where he chose to sit this time around, waiting instead for them to take their seats before choosing a seat on the opposite side of the room as far away as he could get.

With that settled, Fenrir soon figured out what exactly 'sparring' meant. It was basically a fancy Human word for fighting without actually killing the opponent.

" _Ah finally something I can understand"_

Fenrir allowed a small amount of malicious joy to flow through his body as he recognized the opportunity being presented to him. A chance to cut loose and work off some stress, he would just need to remember not to go to far in the ring.

Looking around, the Alpha started sizing up potential opponents. While these humans all varied in shape and size, none of them stood out as being particularly powerful to the Grimm. Needless to say he felt confident that this exercise, in comparison to the rest of the day, would be a breeze for him

" _These Dustling's weapons will be no match for a Grimm's raw power"_

With Fenrir confident in his abilities, he lounged back in his chair and waited for Goodwitch to call forward the first combatants.

"For our first candidate I would like our newest student Fenrir Lupus to enter the arena"

Fenrir was surprised to hear this coming from the woman who supposedly, didn't want him interacting with her students in anyway. Walking down to the small pit at the front, Fenrir could almost feel the eyes of the other students watching his descent.

"... He looks tough, but I wonder how strong he is in a fight"

"... What do you think his weapon is, I bet it's a huge axe or something"

"...Please don't have him fight me, he looks like he could crush me with one foot"

Fenrir held his head noticeably higher at that statement.

Finally making his way into the ring, Fenrir stood to the side as Glynda turned to her scroll to select who would be his opponent.

"Today Mr Lupus you will be fighting... Weiss Schnee"

As Fenrir turned to see exactly who Weiss Schnee was, his confidence abruptly sank like a stone. It was one of the group of four he had been trying to avoid all day. The one with the white hair and the facial scar.

As the girl walked away to grab her weapon and combat attire, Glynda took the brief moment to walk up and whisper into the Grimm's ear.

"Remember Grimm" She hissed through her teeth " This is a sparring match, meaning when I say stop you stop. Any attempt to carry the fight on and I will hurl you out of this school myself.

Fenrir felt his knuckles crack as his hands tightened into fists and his jaw locked into place, the rage curdling inside him like lava.

Eventually his opponent returned, now wearing an elegant white dress with a red inner lining and an emblem of a snowflake on the back of her jacket. Clutched in her right hand was a long, thin blade and her eyes were set in cold determination.

That determination soon gave way as she realized something off about her opponent

"Hey" She called out "Where's your weapon?"

Fenrir scoffed to himself as he extended his claws and bared his fangs at the girl

" _My weapons are right here, human I don't need a fancy blade to make a kill"_

Both of their attention was drawn away from each other by the sound of a bell ringing over head. Looking up Fenrir noticed an enormous screen above them displaying two pictures. One of his opponent and the other of... himself?

" _When did they take that... forget it I don't want to know"_

Underneath the two images were two, long, green bars.

"That green bar is you aura level Mr Lupus" Glynda explained to the confused Grimm " When the bar turns red, it means you are no longer able to fight and the match is over"

Nodding in understanding, Fenrir turned back to face his opponent. " _So all I need to do is bring down her bar until it turns red and then I win, sounds easy enough"_

As the match timer counted down, Fenrir lowered himself to the ground, snarling aggressively at the white haired female. Weiss for her part appeared completely unfazed, body poised and held with her blade held out in front of her

"You've got this Weiss"

"Yeah kick his tail Ice queen"

"Fight well"

From the side, Weiss could hear her teammates cheering her on and while she normally would have scolded them from potentially distracting her, She couldn't help a small smile grace her features.

And then quicker than either of them realized the timer hit zero

"Begin"

Fenrir charged forward, releasing a thunderous roar as he made to swipe at the girl's head, claws fully extended

" _All too easy"_

Was what the Grimm had been thinking right up until the point when he realized that all he ha struck had been empty air

" _What?!"_

Turning around to try and locate the girl, the Alpha received a quick welcome from the girls rapier as she struck him with the hilt of her weapon on the side of his face.

He wasn't even given a chance to recover.

Instantly Weiss was on him, hacking and slashing at his aura with a kind of graceful ferocity, whilst the Grimm could only hold his arms up in front of him in a poor attempt to block her strikes. Finishing up with an overhead strike, Weiss sent the disoriented beast flying across the arena, denied victory by ring out as Fenrir found his footing and dug his claws into the ground, sending chips of concrete flying into the air.

Quickly Fenrir checked his body only to discover with surprise that he was not currently riddled in slash marks and stab wounds. He'd felt the pain of the impact from the blows but his body appeared to have suffered no visible damage.

Unfortunately he wasn't given much time to wonder why this was happening as Weiss was yet again on him in an instant. Mercifully he was able to catch her wrist before she could lay into him again and spun her round and around before hurling her at a nearby wall.

However instead of impacting against the wall as Fenrir hoped she would have done, a strange, glowing white sigil appeared as if from thin air and Weiss landed on it instead of the wall and bounced off it as if it were a springboard.

As Weiss dived towards the ground, Fenrir could just make out the barrel in the hilt of her blade spinning as she pointed the blade down towards the ground.

As Weiss hit the ground the metal of myrtenaster's blade glowed a light blue as it stabbed itself into the ground.

Immediately a huge wall of ice rocketed towards the dumbfounded Beowolf who only just managed to dive roll out of the way. Before he could even question what that was, Weiss was on him again. Every hack, slice, slash and stab hammered away on Fenrir's body, his aura being chipped away piece by piece. Finishing up again with an uppercut slice, Fenrir was sent soaring up into the air before the forces of gravity brought him back down to the earth with a thud.

He was much slower to rise this time, breathing heavily as sweat covered his brow in a polished sheen. Looking up at the screen for a fraction of a second, Fenrir saw his once long, green bar was now a deep orange and much shorter.

Whereas Weiss's barely had a dent in it. This caused Fenrir's already strained temper to completely break as rage enveloped him in it's wild inferno. As the white haired girl lunged for him again, Fenrir met the charge head on and was able to wrap his arms around her mid section in a tackle. Chucking her into the air then quickly grabbing her by the ankles, the Grimm brought the girl down to the floor with as much force as he could.

The result was a massive crater being formed in the floor, huge chunks of rock and rubble being chucked up into the air. Finally Fenrir had struck a blow and a mighty one at that. Seeing the female still conscious, Fenrir cocked his fist back, intent on ending the fight right now, and aimed for the centre of her face. Before the fist could make contact however, it was stopped by a smaller version of the sigil from earlier. To the Grimm it felt as if he had just punched a brick wall.

Stepping back and clutching his hand in pain, Fenrir didn't have time to react as Weiss rose to her feet and summoned even more Glyphs. These ones honed in on the hapless Beowolf as they entrapped his arms, legs and neck, rendering him completely immobile.

With a leap up into the air, Weiss brought her blade behind her and then flew at the Grimm with lightning fast speed, blade aimed squarely at his chest.

And with that final blow the match was over.

...

Fenrir crumpled to the ground in a heap, gasping for air and a small trickle of blood dribbling out from his lips.

" _I lost... to a human... I lost"_

Acting as a nail in the coffin, Fenrir could hear the cheers from the white haired girls teammates, congratulating her on her victory.

"Exceptional performance Miss Schnee" With the fight over, Glynda returned to the arena to repair the damage and review the performance. Looking up at the screen, Glynda could see the Grimm's aura was now firmly situated in the red zone, and Weiss's was still firmly in the green zone, though with a far more noticeable chunk taken out of it after that one move from the wolf Faunus

" _He is certainly strong, but he had no hope of winning if he relied purely on his strength. More of a brute than a warrior it would seem"_

"As usual Miss Schnee you displayed excellent form and good improvisation in your technique, However be mindful that larger enemies will try to take you on up close and personal. With that in mind try to attack them as much as possible while staying out of arms reach"

Weiss took the professors words on board and nodded professionally. Meanwhile Fenrir rose back to his feet, arm and leg muscles shaking with the effort.

" _How could I lose. I'm a hunter, a born killer. How could I lose to a weak pathetic DUSTLING!"_

"Mister lupus" Glynda turned to the Grimm, face as impassive as stone " While physically you hold a great deal of strength, it means nothing if you cannot reach your opponent, learn to be fast as well as strong and don't telegraph your moves so obviously"

Fenrir meanwhile continued to shake and shudder, in equal parts exhaustion and hot blooded fury as he kept his held down

" _I AM NOT WEAK!"_

Before anyone could react, the Grimm rose to his feet and stormed off back to his seat, his ego bruised and his pride in tatters. He didn't even bother to look at the silver eyed girl as he passed by her, instead opting to stare down at the floor and do his best to block out the conversations around him.

Because honestly right now. He just wanted to be left alone

...

After that the rest of the class passed uneventfully and before he knew it, the class had ended. Wasting no time, the Grimm stomped back to his room, not even bothering with dinner. On the way a smaller student tried to speak to him, what they wanted to speak to him about he had no idea as the moment they opened their mouth Fenrir grabbed them by their skull and roared straight into their ear.

That sent the student sprinting away, for which the Alpha was only slightly grateful for. Eventually finding his way back to his room, the Beowolf dumped his bag back on his chair and slung his jacket off of his shoulders.

And then he turned around, picked up the nearest shelving unit and threw it as far as he could at the solid stone wall. It fell to pieces on impact but the Grimm didn't feel any better afterward.

Nothing could help him feel better right now.

Rage and anger burned away inside his stomach to the point were it was starting to make him feel ill but he couldn't stop, for a solid weak now his mind and body had been beaten and battered and he had quite honestly had enough by this point.

Except the torture wasn't over yet. Until Ozpin found a way to get him back to his true form, he would have to endure the same trials day in and day out. The very thought just made the Grimm groan in agony.

Laying on his bed as the hours ticked by till eventually the sun gave way to the moon, Fenrir had only one though left to give to today as he finally closed his, again not bothering to remove his clothes

" _You had better find that cure soon Ozpin or there will be a death at this school, and it won't be pretty"_

 **A/N: So yeah... This was a lot longer than I thought it would be but I just had so much fun writing that fight scene that I didn't want to stop. To make things interesting going forward what I plan to do is follow the canon events of the story but in-between Fenrir will also be staring in his own little adventures with his own personal adversary who I shall reveal at a later date. As always leave a review to let me know what you thought and I will see you next week. Take care**


	6. Chapter 6: breaking the ice

**A/N: So something I feel I should address is Fenrir's behaviour in the last chapter for any who felt he was behaving overly hostile. Canonically younger Grimm are known to charge headfirst into a fight with reckless abandon in comparison to the older Grimm who are much smarter in their fighting style. Fenrir is an alpha but he is also still quite young for a Grimm meaning he has quite a chip on his shoulders. A chip I intend to knock off with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. As always thank you to all those reviewed, followed and favorited and enjoy the chapter.**

As the Beowolf slept fitfully in his room, Glynda and Ozpin watched from a security camera installed in the corner of his room. Ozpin Had been keeping a close eye on the young Grimm since the start of the day and so far the young Faunus had behaved exactly as he expected him to.

 _"Surly, anti social and moody but not overly hostile and there were tiny instances where he did seem to show some kindness"_

Reviewing the footage from the cafeteria, the headmaster re-watched the video of one of his second year students approaching the Grimm and waving at him. Surprisingly the wolf Faunus actually waved back awkwardly, indicating to the older man that the two knew each other.

 _"I'll have to ask Miss Scarlatina about that at a later time, that could be an interesting avenue to explore"_

Out of the corner of his eye, Ozpin could make out the still frowning face of his assistant head, as she watched the various screens portraying the Alpha's day.

"I assume you still have doubts about my decision to keep Mr Lupus on school grounds"

Glynda for her part merely continued to stare at the footage of the Grimm's fight against Miss Schnee with a steadily growing frown of concern. She was one of the few people who would always stand by Ozpin and his decisions but in the case of this Grimm in human skin, she did have some slight reservations.

"He has a temper" Glynda stated matter-of-factly " And it seems he doesn't particularly enjoy being around so many people in one area"

Ozpin nodded at the blonde huntresses statement. Indeed Mr Lupus held quite a lot of anger in him, which he supposed was natural as Grimm were known as being creatures of anonymity and malice.

However the headmaster saw more than just anger in the young wolf Faunus.

He saw potential. A chance for change in the very outlook humanity had on Grimm kind.

"Most of the students who come here have their fair share of faults and flaws" Ozpin explained to his fellow teacher " It is our job as teachers to help them overcome those flaws and make them not only better fighters but also better people"

Glynda remained silent at the grey haired man's words, choosing instead to glance over the various heavy tomes that lay scattered around the man's desk. All of them relating to what little knowledge the people of remnant had on their oldest adversaries.

"Do you truly intend on returning him to his true form, sir?"

Ozpin continued to silently observe the footage in front of him, eyes darting from screen to screen as Glynda stared at him questioningly. After a moment Ozpin turned to look up at the Blonde woman, face set in a firm line as he at last answered her question.

"I will do whatever I can to help him get his old body back. Being in his new form clearly causes him a great deal of stress and as of last night he is one of my students. What he chooses to do when he gets his body back is entirely his choice"

"And what if he chooses to go right back to killing people?" Glynda asked incredulously

Ozpin turned back to the centre screen, hands crossed together in front of him as he continued to observe the Grimm's slumber

"If this plays out how I hope it will, that will hopefully never happen"

...

Several days passed and Fenrir quickly fell into a routine that he was semi-comfortable with. Wake up, get dressed, walk to his first lesson, get through the first class, get lunch, sit through another class then head back to his room and sleep. During the first few days, Fenrir also got acquainted with some of the other professors at beacon academy, though he was seriously considering whether or not that was a good thing, as they all seemed to be as weird or 'eccentric' as their headmaster.

Firstly their was the green haired, glasses wearing history professor by the name of Dr Oobleck who seemed to drink even more coffee than Ozpin did and that was impressive considering that whenever Fenrir saw the headmaster, he was almost always seen with a mug in his hand, and the result was the man always talked at a hundred miles a minute and acted as if it was impossible for him to stay in one place for a moment at a time. This altogether made it impossible to follow whatever it was he was trying to teach the floundering Beowolf.

And then there was Goodwitch. Fenrir gathered from their first meeting that she was a particularly harsh woman but as he soon came to find out, harsh was an understatement. It was an opinion he would take to his grave but whenever she scolded him for not paying attention or criticized his academic work.

It honestly reminded him of his mother.

Port was consistently over the top with his boisterous tales of bravado that always took up more of the lesson than what was probably acceptable, and the general studies teacher professor Peach was... strange. He couldn't explain why but whenever he had her for a lesson she always behaved as if she wasn't fully there.

 _"So an airhead, a loudmouth, a hyperactive nutcase and an ice queen."_

Outside of classes, Fenrir kept social interaction to a bare minimum, in turn people rarely interacted with him. As for team RWBY, he avoided them like the plague, at one point doing a lap around the entire campus just to avoid passing the red head in the corridor. When he returned to the solace of his make-shift bedroom he would pass away the hours by just laying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, when night rolled round he would find looking out his single window to gaze at the moon above, to be very relaxing.

It was not an exciting life by any means but the Grimm was content with it.

What he wasn't so ok with was the classes themselves and the amount of written work that was expected from him.

Because despite the fact that the Grimm had been attending Beacon for several days, he had absolutely no idea what any of the lessons were about. It was as if he was suffering some form of mental block because as much as he strained his mind, he couldn't figure out any of the academic problems being levied at him. Whenever a professor wrote something down on a whiteboard or listed of several pieces of important information during a lecture, all Fenrir saw was words, numbers and symbols all criss-crossing into each other effectively creating mental spaghetti in his brain.

To put it bluntly, he didn't get any of it.

As for the combat classes, Fenrir hadn't been sent into the sparring ring since his battle with the white haired female, instead he had the opportunity to watch other human's fight against each other and observe their fighting styles. The main thing he gathered from these observations was that he **may** have slightly overestimated his chances. While he was still certain he could take on a few of them with little issue, others were performing feats of athleticism and flexibility that the Grimm, still wasn't sure were even physically possible. Some moved so fast they were nearly impossible to see, and others were strong enough to create shockwaves with every single blow.

And the level of dust manipulation some of them had was just mindboggling to the Alpha. From giant pillars of ice, to vicious plumes of fire to savage electrical storms, it seemed as if some of these dustlings had control over the elements themselves.

 _"How am I supposed to compete with something like that?"_

So it was as the day's ticked by, Fenrir realised that maybe, he wasn't as all powerful as he thought he was.

 _"In this form at least"_

On the fifth day, Fenrir was well and truly exhausted. The past five days since he started playing the part of Fenrir Lupus had left the Grimm mentally drained and all around fed up with his own inadequateness.

It was morning as he sat in another history class with the Frenzied doctor continuing another of his rapid fire lectures, whilst the rest of the class tried in vain to follow along in-between taking notes.

Fenrir lay slumped over in his desk, his mind already too far frazzled to even attempt to try and figure out what was trying to be ingrained in his head today. His notebook lay in front of him, still on the first page and completely bare save for a few jagged scribbles that may have once been words.

They were supposed to be learning about the various factions that made up the fighters of what the humans called "The great war". What exactly was so great about this war, Fenrir didn't have a clue

 _"I thought Dustlings hated wars"_ Fenrir thought to himself as he stared off into space " _What was so different about this one that they consider it 'great'"_

The Beowolf's ears twitched constantly at the sound of hurried scribbles coming from his right. Looking over to the source, Fenrir observed the white haired female he fought at the start of the week, furiously writing in her considerably more filled notepad.

Unfortunately, when Fenrir had first arrived in Dr Ooblecks classroom, he hadn't been fully paying attention to where he was going and had once again sat next to the four females he was trying his absolute best to avoid all week. All he knew was that this certainly wasn't doing his blood pressure any favours.

Taking a cursory glance at the white haired girls notebook, Fenrir could tell from a glance that the female's notes were much more detailed than his could ever hope to be. Small in size and cursive in font, the impression given from the book alone told Fenrir that the female was one of the more studious members of the class and this type of material was far easier for her to understand than it was for him.

As Fenrir stared down at his own poor attempt at note taking, a spike of irritation settled snugly at the back of his skull. He hated feeling like this, not only weak but stupid as well apparently. It wasn't for lack of trying, he just genuinely didn't understand the material he was being given.

 _"Am I just dumb"_ Fenrir thought worryingly " _Is it just impossible for me to figure this out by myself_ "

Young Grimm are very prideful creatures, Fenrir was no different. So to actually admit to himself that this academic work was beyond him well.

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Turning back to watch the Female, brow furrowed in concentration as she scribbled furiously onto the pages, a thought occurred to the Grimm that while potentially rewarding, was also very risky.

 _"This female seems to understand this subject better than I do. Maybe I could ask her for advice"_

At that thought, Fenrir shook his head violently. The very idea of asking a dustling for help was near inconceivable to the Grimm. The human's were supposed to be his mortal enemies not his allies, to ask even one of them for help was an admission of defeat in the Alpha's eyes

 _"But"_ Fenrir thought as he looked back down at his depressingly bare notebook _"Do I really have a choice right now. I can't just keep staring at nothing for the rest of my time here."_

More than that, Fenrir was getting quite fed up with his own ineptness. A part of him strangely enough, actually wanted to learn more about the human's and their history.

 _"After all, it is an opportunity to learn about the enemy, from the enemy. As a Grimm I should take this opportunity shouldn't I?"_

With his reasoning secure, he brought a hand over to tap the girl's shoulder hesitantly, with a single clawed finger.

 _"Hope this works"_

...

Weiss felt something sharp prod at her shoulder. Turning to find the source, her eyes widened in surprise slightly at what or, or rather who she saw was trying to get her attention. It was the dark haired, leather wearing, late entrance student that she had fought at the beginning of the week.

After that day the members of team RWBY returned to their dorm room and briefly discussed what their opinions were on 'the new guy' as Yang had put it. Their leader Ruby seemed a bit creeped out by him which came as a surprise to the rest of the group. When asked why, Ruby told them about how in their first class he had done nothing but glare at her throughout most of the lesson. At that, Yang offered to go find the strange man and 'teach him to mind his own business' for her younger sister, but the red head quickly shot her older sisters offer down with a hurried explanation of he technically hadn't done anything to her and as such, Yang would just be assaulting him for no good reason.

Blake made a comment about how he seemed to be weirdly evasive around all four of them. While her teammates had been preoccupied, the black haired girl had noticed how the wolf Faunus quickly spotted them down the other end of the corridor they were in, and promptly walked round half the school grounds just to avoid passing them in the hallway.

Yang added her opinion, stating that he seemed to be unnaturally quiet and, upon confirming with the rest of her team, none of them had actually heard him speak. Weiss went last and rather than list what she had noted about him in the classroom, she instead informed them of what she saw during their brief match against each other. During his final charge at her, Weiss could see, plain as day, the raw, unchecked fury that burned in his midnight irises as he growled and roared at her like a feral animal.

All this put together, the team decided that the new student was... strange, and that if he seemed so dead set on avoiding them, then they should probably not provoke him by attempting to speak to him. It was odd, therefore that here the person in question was, taping Weiss on the shoulder and attempting to gain her attention.

Of course what the Grimm had failed to realize was that in his haste to get the girls attention, he put a tad too much force into his tap, nearly causing his sharper than average nails to pierce the female's shoulder blade.

"Ow!" Weiss exclaimed as she turned fully to face the Grimm, his hand already recoiling back to his side as if he had touched a hot iron rod. "Do you mind, I was trying to study before you nearly impaled me with those... Knives of yours"

 _"Geez... and I thought I was easily irritated"_

Fenrir was actually kind of impressed, he felt like he hadn't been directly challenged like this in a while, the likes of Glynda and the professors merely giving him thinly veiled threats. This girl however clearly wasn't messing around. He could respect that.

When it wasn't being directed at him at least.

Being this close to the wolf Faunus, Weiss was able to more closely analyse the newcomers features. He wasn't as pale as he had looked on his first day, sporting a bit more colour in his cheeks, but he was still a similar shade of ivory that she was. His hair was a tangled, black mess that had little to no style to it as it just sat on his head, and his uniform looked like it hadn't been ironed once and his tie hung loosely round his neck

And his jacket was practically falling apart at the seams.

Several tense moments passed as Fenrir just stared at the white haired girl as she grew steadily more impatient with his silence.

"Well" She snapped "What do you want?"

Fenrir realised with a start that, yet again, he was being asked to speak. His vocal chords were slowly getting used to the new form of communication, as he practised to himself in his room at night. It still hurt like a knife when he tried to even form a simple sentence. So to help himself out, he gestured first to the female's notebook, and then to his own.

"Help...me...Don't ... un...der...st...stand"

His voice sounded shredded and gravelly. It was very unpleasant to the heiresses ears, but upon actually deciphering what the man just said, Weiss could only tilt her head in confusion.

" You need help?"

The wolf Faunus elected to simply nod at the girl's question. Weiss couldn't help but let out a small scoff, figuring the man must be messing with her in some way.

"It's the Great war" She explained to him " Every human and Faunus alive knows at least the basics about the events that transpired during that era"

" _Well Woman, I am neither of those things"_ Fenrir thought to himself bitterly

As the Faunus continued to remain silent, Weiss found herself getting increasingly more astounded

 _"Does he really not know anything about the Great war?"_

Looking down to his notebook, Weiss noticed that what she had at first thought to be childish doodles running at the top of his page, were actually supposed to be words that had been horribly mutilated by a far too heavy handed writing style

"Can you even write?" Weiss unconsciously asked aloud

Fenrir visibly winced at this question and started to close up on himself and his tail started swaying in agitation, his humiliation gradually rising as he realized just how foolish he must look to the girl

Growling lightly, Fenrir grabbed his notebook and shuffled over to the edge of his desk.

 _"This was a stupid idea"_ He thought miserably, his eyes starting to burn for some reason _"I should never have asked a dustling for help"_

Weiss watched as the Faunus clenched his eyes shut and gripped his book tightly. A small twinge of guilt hit her chest as she watched the larger man almost curl in on himself. Outside of what Ruby told them, he really hadn't done anything to warrant their dislike, unlike Cardin and his gang of thugs, and it seemed as if he genuinely had been asking for help. Though that did raise the question of if he didn't know anything about basic history, then what had he been doing for the past 17-18 years of his life. Watching him, Weiss felt that twinge of guilt again as the leather wearing man looked at the whiteboard at the front of the class, and his eyes kept roaming the same spot over and over, as if desperately trying to memorize the words written their to see if anything would stick. Sighing lightly to herself, Weiss brought herself closer to the Faunus

 _"After all"_ she thought to herself " _I did promise Ruby I would try to be nicer"_

"Hey" Fenrir's head turned sharply to see the white haired female was again addressing him. He tensed lightly, expecting to be belittled again

"I'm sorry, I came off as rude when you were only asking for help" Weiss offered an apologetic smile to the confused Faunus "If you still want it, I could hep you with whatever it is your struggling with?"

Fenrir was beyond dumbfounded. One minute this female was looking down on him for not seen knowing how to write, the next she was actually offering to help him. His ears flattened against his head as a depressing thought resurfaced in his head

"I... am... dumb"

Weiss, surprisingly, smiled softly as she decided to ease the mans worries. In her own way of course

"Well yes that much is obvious" At that the Faunus shot her a look that just screamed 'I beg your pardon' but she quickly followed up with

"But people can change, trust me I know"

 _"People can change"_

Fenrir repeated this line in his head, not entirely understanding it's meaning but at this point wasn't about to question it. He had asked for help and he was being given it. That was enough for the relieved Beowolf.

"Before we start" The girl interrupted Fenrir's thoughts "I don't suppose you have any idea who I am do you?"

The question seemed innocent enough, so Fenrir simply shook his head and the girl let out the tiniest chuckle at that. Then she did something the Grimm found strange. She held out a small hand in front of his face.

"Weiss Schnee"

After a moment of just staring at the girls offered hand, blinking owlishly, Fenrir eventually took some initiative and grabbed the girls hand. It was by no means a handshake, his far larger mitt merely laying on top of her own hand, but at least he was trying.

"Fenrir... Lupus"

...

It was like a wall of fog had been lifted from Fenrir's head. Weiss as he had soon found out was actually a superb teacher. While certainly strict and completely unwavering in her tone of authority, she was also highly patient with him and whenever he couldn't figure some problem or date, she would explain it to him with great clarity. She even helped him with his handwriting, teaching him to not grip his pen to tightly, nor to try and stab his pen through the paper, but to instead use light, delicate strokes that glided along the pages surface.

It was still an untidy mess but at least now it was somewhat legible, if one squinted.

And once he started finding his feet, Fenrir found himself growing steadily fascinated with the subject of human history. Apparently the Great war was called such not because it was a good thing that people enjoyed, but rather because it had been a bloody battle, a violent civil conflict so large, so fierce and so long lasting that it far eclipsed any war that came before it or even after it.

 _"Impressive really, that the Humans had time to fight among themselves, along with fighting my kin"_

"So Fenrir" Weiss addressed the wolf Faunus as he finished up writing another anecdote on his now nearly full third page. Teaching him had been a substantially more pleasant experience than teaching her leader. For one thing it seemed as if the man was actually listening to what she told him, absorbing the information like a sponge once he started getting into it. Plus the look on his face whenever he figured something out by himself was... amusing in just how child like it looked on his face.

"What are the names of the four kingdoms of Remnant?"

Fenrir thought for a moment before he answered with renewed clarity

" Vale...Vacuo... Mistral... Atlas... But back then... Atlas was called... Mantle"

Fenrir pointed to each of the four kingdoms on the map at the front of the classroom, as he said each one's name"

"And who was sided with whom during the war?"

Again a brief moment of silence passed before Fenrir answered confidently

" Mantle... And Mistral... worked together... against Vale... and Vacuo"

" And where did the war finally come to an end?"

Pause

"Vytal island... Vale and Vacuo... Won the last battle... a... traty"

"Treaty"

"Treaty... was signed... on the island... ending... the war"

Weiss nodded in satisfaction. It was only the basic's but it was a massive step up from what he knew before.

That is to say nothing

" Very good Fenrir" Weiss offered the black haired teenager a small smile as he massaged his throat after talking for so long. Fenrir felt his face twitch weirdly again but it was gone as quickly as it arrived.

A minute later the bell rang, signalling the end of class. To Fenrir it seemed as if time had passed much quicker all of a sudden. He could have sworn these classes felt much longer when he had just sat there doing nothing.

Quickly Weiss and Fenrir put their stuff back in their respective bags, and made for the exit. Weiss stopped by the doorway, waiting for her teammates. Fenrir, while not as apprehensive as he had been before talking with Weiss, still didn't feel up to talking to the rest of the group of four. Especially the red head.

 _"I just... Can't"_

Nevertheless as he continued to walk out the door, he turned back briefly to look Weiss in the eye.

"Thank you" He uttered almost silently

Regardless Weiss heard him clearly and nodded to him, another light smile ghosting across her face.

With that Fenrir turned and walked away towards the cafeteria, now feeling a little less stressed out than he had been at the start of the day.

Meanwhile, in front of his desk, Dr Oobleck watched the Grimm in disguise walk out of his classroom. The green haired professor smiled to himself as he turned to type away a message on his scroll

 _"Well now, it appears our little Grimm is finally starting to reach out to others"_ Oobleck thought as he sent his message off to professor Ozpin

 _"You might actually be onto something here sir"_

 **A/N So Fenrir is slowly starting to come out of his furry shell and actually talk to people. Don't worry he will speak to Ruby he just has to work up the nerve first. For this chapter I thought I would add some images to help give you a better idea of the type of look our young Beowolf now has in his human form. I may add more of these later down the line who knows. In the meantime as always leave a review and I will see you in the next chapter. Take care**

 **/images/I/81FygfvRGPL._UX385_.jpg**

 **generated/187/1/165187-black-brand-mens-brawler-shorty-fingerless-leather-gloves_1000_**

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 **Just ignore the moustache, he doesn't have facial hair.**


	7. Chapter 7:Common ground

**A/N: So the image of what I imagined Fenrir's hair to look like, isn't working for whatever reason. Just go to Google Images, type in 'Gaspard Ulliel', it's the image in black and white and as I said ignore the moustache. Other than that enjoy the chapter.**

The din of the cafeteria surrounded Fenrir as he sat in his usual spot in the corner of the room. As he ate, he looked down at his notebook in his hand, going over the notes he took In his previous class. It was a noticeable improvement now that he knew not to try and drive his pen through the paper. Fenrir had been initially hesitant to ask the female for help, expecting to just be instantly shot down and that what would be the end of it.

Yet surprisingly, fate finally decided to give him a break it seemed and the White haired girl had proven to be an invaluable source of knowledge for the hapless Grimm. Certainly, she had proven to be far better at teaching the young Beowolf than the professor's had been. On top of that, while initially cold and sharp with him, the female did eventually soften up and was probably among the first few humans to speak to him on an equal level instead of talking down at him.

The only other people he could think of was Ozpin and the rabbit eared Faunus from the alleyway.

Speaking of the brunette, almost right on cue, she walked right by his table, as she always did, to go and re-join with her teammates. Everyday for the past week, without fail, The female would stop in front of his table briefly, offer him a small wave and a smile, then carry on her way. On good days, Fenrir would simply wave back then return to his food, on day's when he was feeling stressed or just plain annoyed, he would just give her a look then turn back to his meagre meal.

Today was... a better day than even the Beowolf had expected, so he waved back and, to try something a little different, offered the girl a smile of his own.

He was not good at it, **AT ALL**.

If someone else were to look at the Alpha, they would think he was plotting to kill the rabbit Faunus as he practically stretched his lips to the back of his head to reveal far too many sharpened teeth.

Even Velvet was mildly put off by the sudden display. Eventually the brunette figured this was just his way of being friendly, and carried on her way.

Not before being nearly tripped up by Cardin of course.

Fenrir's 'smile' quickly changed to a frown upon noticing the larger male yet again harass the smaller girl. He had been observing this particular Dustling for several days now and so far he had shown himself to be, pretty much what Fenrir had expected from all Dustlings from the very beginning.

He was a thug, a brute who looked down on those he considered less than him and only ever thought of his own personal gain. He seemed to have a particular grudge against Faunus which unfortunately, for the Beowolf, included him for the time being

Every time the male antagonized the Grimm, Fenrir wished for nothing more than to snap the idiots neck and be left in merciful peace, but as always the knowledge that if he were to do that, he would lose his one remaining chance at returning to his old body and be right back where he started.

So for now he had to resist acting on impulse, something that a Grimm is very reluctant to do.

Still, seeing the Male continue to harass the girl, who had done absolutely nothing to him, stoked the constantly burning fire's that rested in the Beowolf's core. But with a shake of his head, he simply returned to his lunch.

" _It's none of my business"_ Fenrir reasoned to himself _"If these humans wish to harass each other for stupid reasons instead of fighting their real enemies, more's the pity for them when my kind reduce them back to the dust they came from."_

Looking up again, Fenrir couldn't stop his eyes from yet again gravitating towards the table of four (Sometimes eight) that his eyes were always drawn to. Really it happened so often now, the Alpha couldn't be bothered to stop himself.

There she was, the silver eyed girl, as always clad in that red cloak of hers, Talking happily amongst her friends and completely oblivious to Fenrir's watchful gaze. Even now the Alpha was still torn between being afraid of the red head or just leaping over and ripping her eyes out. In all his years of hunting, no human had beaten him. For this small female to defeat him with seemingly little effort.

It cut deeper than her scythe could ever hope to cut him.

Drifting his eyes across the table, Fenrir scanned the four females as they chatted amongst themselves. First the Blonde who Fenrir had gathered by now was the red head's sister, if their similar scents were anything to go on. Then the bow wearing Faunus who was simply reading from a book and only interjecting into the conversation occasionally. Finally the white haired female who sat at the end of the table, noticeably more poised than her teammates.

" _Her name is... Weiss Schnee, I need to remember that if I ever need her assistance again"_

His time with the female had softened his opinion on the group, making him a little less fearful of what they might do to him if he approached them. As always there was still that blank space at the table, and again Fenrir shook off the thought of occupying that space, though this time it was a little more difficult to ignore the small voice that he was fairly certain wasn't his at this point.

" _Wonder if being a human for too long is starting to drive me crazy"_

Regardless, Fenrir carried on, mentally preparing for the second half of his day.

...

"And I said 'now that's a katana'" Yang finished up another one of her awful jokes to a chorus of groans and boos from the rest of the table. As Weiss continued to do her best to ignore her blonde teammates attempts at humour, the girl felt a niggling feeling in the back of her neck. Turning to look behind her, the Heiress locked eyes with the wolf Faunus from earlier. Eyebrows shooting up in alarm, the dark haired man rapidly shot his head back down to his tray, ears pressed flatly to his head like a child who had just been caught out trying to steal sweets from the cupboard.

Weiss was confused when it came to the large, midnight-haired boy. He displayed a complete lack of knowledge in even the most basic of human history. While normally Weiss would not suffer fools like this, the rate at which the Faunus learned and took in the information Weiss gave him like a fish takes to water. Certainly he was a far better student than her leader with her dismally short attention span when it came to anything academic related

"Watchu looking at Ice queen?"

Weiss had to seriously fight the urge to leap up in her chair as in an instant, Yang was right in front of her face. Looking around the heiress noticed that actually, the whole table was now looking at her. Before she could even get a word in, Blake took this moment to speak up.

"She was looking over at the new Wolf Faunus"

"Blake!"

In response to the smaller girl yelling her name indignantly, Blake merely shrugged her shoulders and returned to her nearly finished book. Yang meanwhile now sported a devilish grin on her face that just screamed trouble was going to be coming the heiresses way.

"Oh really" Yang asked teasingly " He didn't strike me as your type Weiss. I figured you were more into the clean cut and sophisticated type when it came to your tastes in men"

"Don't be so childish" Weiss snapped curtly " It's nothing like that, he was just looking this way and I just happened to catch his eye. He was staring at us"

Yang nodded in a way that showed just how little she believed her teammates words. Thankfully Ruby chose to speak up, inadvertently interrupting her older sister in the process.

"Oh yeah, I saw you guys talking to each other during Oobleck's class, what were you guys talking about?"

Now stuck being the centre of attention, Weiss simply sighed and straightened her posture, giving off a dignified air as she very quickly explained to her team what happened, hoping to end the conversation as swiftly as possible

"He asked for my help with the lesson and I elected to give him some teaching, nothing more"

At this, the blonde huntress in training raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"You actually helped him?" She asked " Last time I asked you for help with school work you told me to do it myself"

"Well he needed the help a lot more than you did Yang, it's not that you don't know the answers, you just can't be bothered"

Yang wanted to argue that last point, but found she really couldn't so she simply nodded her head as if to say 'Fair enough'.

"What do you mean by 'Needed the help more'?" Ruby questioned

Weiss paused for a moment, thinking over her response before continuing.

"It's strange" She said quietly "He didn't know anything about the Great war, or about the Faunus rights revolution, he didn't even know what the names of the four kingdoms are!"

This gathered the attention of her teammates incredibly. Ruby threw a look over to the shaggy headed boy, now really curious about his story and background.

And why for the past five days, she couldn't shake the bizarre feeling that she had met the teen before yet had no idea where or when.

As the rest of her team continued to talk amongst themselves, the wolf Faunus rose from his seat to deposit his empty tray. On the way his head turned in the direction of her table and for the second time, their locked onto each other. Midnight on silver.

Like before, the boy tensed in that same strange combination of fear and rage. Ruby offered him a weak, wobbly smile and in response, the Faunus dropped his tray and darted out of the cafeteria like a bullet.

The red head frowned at the boy's sudden departure, now really wondering just what she could have done to warrant this kind of behaviour.

" _Seriously, he acts like I tried to kill him or something"_

...

Afternoon classes came and went as normal for the Grimm, that is to say he understood nothing and simply elected to just recount the ceiling tiles... again.

Walking through the familiar hallways back to his room, Fenrir observed the sun as it began its descent in the sky, colouring the interior of the halls a burnt orange. As the Alpha stared out the glass and looked at the grounds below him, he silently observed the various students milling about the campus, spending their last few hours before curfew enjoying the dying sunlight.

Seeing the various groups among the collective mass of people caused an old feeling to stir up in the beasts core. It reminded him of his old pack and the days spent roaming the forests and outlands of Remnant, searching for their next prey.

Placing a hand up against the cool glass, Fenrir watched as a group of humans talked amongst themselves, laughing loudly as one of them was placed in a headlock from a much larger male.

Looking up, Fenrir could vaguely see his reflection in the clear glass, and sneered at the face that wasn't his. The mess of black and blue hair, the angled jaw, the pointed teeth.

The eyes as deep blue as the ocean depths.

And none of it looked right on him, none of it belonged.

Sighing silently, the Grimm suddenly didn't feel up to going back to his room. Instead he turned back the way he came and decide to do some exploring to take his mind off of the sudden hollow feeling in his gut. Walking through hallways and pacing down staircases, Fenrir eventually came across a room that was similar in size to the schools cafeteria.

Only instead of lines of tables, there were a multitude of shelves stacked from floor to ceiling with books

" _Ah so this is the library I keep hearing about"_

Fenrir had heard about the library in passing from fellow students but up until today had been unable to find it. Figuring he had a few hours to kill, the Grimm walked among the aisles of tomes, looking to see if anything grabbed his attention. Weiss had unknowingly lit a fire inside the young Beowolf, and now he felt a strong desire to learn as much as he could abut humankind.

" _For purely strategic reasons of course"_

As he wandered through the labyrinth of books, Fenrir came across a small assortment of tables and chairs, lined up against the wall length windows. Sitting in one of those chairs, surprisingly was the bow wearing Faunus, completely engrossed in a novel that looked to be about as thick as his forearm.

Looking up and down the shelves in front of him, Fenrir eventually just picked one out at random and opened it up to have a look at the contents.

Immediately the Alpha's vision was assaulted with a tidal wave of letters all blurring into one another as his eyes refused to focus on any specific line of text. Forcibly shutting his eyes and rubbing at them with his fingers, Fenrir tried to read the book again, this time holding it at arms length so as not to further damage his retinas.

" _This text is absurdly tiny"_ Fenrir thought " _How can Human's read this?"_

After getting over the momentary migraine, Fenrir found a simple wooden chair and took a seat. Unbeknownst to the Grimm, Blake watched as the libraries newcomer sat down in a seat only a few feet away from herself. She watched in mild amusement as the wolf Faunus squinted his eyes and very slowly, started reading the text inches away from his own face.

The book in question, the young Grimm had picked up was actually an anthology of some of humanities oldest myths and legends, stories passed down through time, some as old as the first age of Man itself. One such legend, older than all the others, was the one that currently caught the Grimm's attention.

" _The... Story... of the... Seasons..."_

Accompanying this story was a small picture of four, distinctly female silhouettes, one blue, one red, one green, one gold and one larger, male silhouette behind them that was grey in colour. Fenrir knew what the seasons were, living in the wilderness for all of his natural life he had many a time, witnessed the weather change from warm, long days to cold, bitter nights. Rain and wind, heat and chill. And these humans had apparently decided to make a story out of them.

" _I guess they needed someway to pass the time back then"_

Shrugging his shoulder's, Fenrir read on, interested to see just what kind of stories these humans could have fashioned up around the weather of all things. However as he read through the first few paragraphs, Fenrir could only growl in frustration.

He couldn't concentrate, after a while every sentence, every paragraph, just melted into one another and the exasperated Grimm had no choice but to start over again. He kept losing his place and his mind struggled to process any of the words written on the aged pieces of paper. He had hit another mental block.

Placing the book down with an audible slam, Fenrir shut his eyes and massaged his temples, attempting to refocus on the task at hand. After a minute of doing this, he returned to the book, starting from the beginning again.

"Deep... in the... forests of...rem...Remnant" Fenrir unknowingly read aloud "Beside... a great and... mighty... Reyver..."

"River"

A reserved voice called out, startling the Grimm to the point where his tail stood on end like a large, black feather duster. Looking to his left, Fenrir saw that it was the black haired female with the bow. It was at that point he realized he had been reading aloud to himself and promptly felt his face burn up with embarrassment.

" _Precisely what I needed today. Another Female finding out just how inept I am at this posing as a human act"_

Blake for her part, simply placed her book down, making sure to save the page she was on before asking the dark haired man a question that had been on her mind since lunchtime.

"Your new to this whole learning thing aren't you?"

While Blake had been her usual quiet self as the rest of her team talked amongst themselves about the wolf Faunus's strange behaviour, Blake internally found it rather odd that the boy knew so little about history. And after watching him struggle for a solid ten minutes on the first page, Blake felt the need to throw the poor guy a bone.

Fenrir, pride already exhausted from the stresses of the day, simply nodded at the girls question. Blake moved her chair closer to the Faunus and peered over his shoulder to see what exactly he was reading.

"Ever read that one before" She asked him

Fenrir shook his head as he tilted the book to allow the girl to better see the page. Blake saw that he was currently reading the old myth about the four maidens and the theory that had been swirling round the girls head all day.

" _This is a story parents tell their children"_ Blake mused to herself " _If he doesn't know this then..."_

"Hey" The girl spoke up and Fenrir could tell she was about to ask him something personal "I know this might be sudden but, your... alone aren't you?"

Fenrir tilted his head in confusion. How could he be alone when this girl was literally right in front of his face and he was in a school packed to the brim with students

" _I couldn't be alone if I tried"_

"I mean" Blake saw the young mans confusion and elaborated "You don't have parents, or someone that could have taught you this stuff, do you?"

At this Fenrir was visibly shocked, but then the look was replaced with a frown. He did have parents, but they left a long time ago. He didn't know where they were now.

Or even if they were still alive.

For a time Blake silently worried if she had overstepped her boundaries, but then Fenrir turn and spoke in a solemn tone

"No"

At that, Blake nodded in understanding. Growing up in Menagerie, Blake had witnessed many times that even amongst their own kind, there were Faunus who grew up even more unlucky than the rest of them. While this did make the girl wonder how exactly, the boy got admitted to Beacon, she eventually figured it must be for similar reasons to her own admittance.

Considering her own... dubious past, it was a wonder how she got into one of the most prestigious academies in all of Remnant.

As the girl took in this new information, Fenrir tilted his head to look at the book the bow wearing Faunus had been reading. It was bigger than his own and judging by the state of the pages, newer as well.

"What's... yours... about?"

Blake turned to see where the boy was pointing and blinked in surprise as she saw him reach a hand out to look at her own novel. Very few people actually took an interest in Blake's hobby, the only other person she could think of being her leader Ruby.

"Um... It's about a man, transformed into a hideous monster by an enchantress and if he can't find his true love before his 21st birthday, he will remain a beast forever"

Fenrir's eyes widened at that. It certainly hadn't been what had he expected from the rather drab looking slab of papers.

" _In a way its kind of the opposite of my own situation right now"_ As he thought on this, a rather bleak thought occurred to the Grimm's mind

" _How long am I going to be stuck like this... and what if it's permanent?"_

Shaking his head clear of the disturbing thought, Fenrir turned back to the smaller girl and offered his opinion on the books plot.

"Cool"

At that Blake was truly stunned. Not to generalize but normally guys weren't into romance stories. The again he could just be purely interested in the monster aspect of it. Regardless, Blake offered the larger man a tiny smile. At this Fenrir, electing to be bold, held out a clawed hand directly in front of the Girls face.

"Fenrir"

Leaning back slightly so as not to be poked in the eye, The black haired girl eventually figured out he was offering her his hand. Taking a moment, Blake reached up and shook Fenrir's hand.

"Blake"

...

Truthfully Fenrir had not felt this relaxed in a very long time. Once the awkward introductions were out of the way, the two returned to their books. With time, Fenrir was able to somewhat competently get through the story at a reasonable pace. It was actually rather fascinating, the tale of an old wizard, given a new lease on life thanks to four sisters, who in return are given special magic powers by the wizard, that allowed them to control one of the four seasons each.

He doubted the story was even remotely true but the idea was certainly creative.

After that, Fenrir asked Blake if he could have a look at her book. Instead however, Blake actually read the first few chapters out loud to him, reasoning it would be faster this way. He was glad she did because not only was she faster than his slower than paint drying reading speed, but the quiet passion she put into every sentence spoke, every line of dialogue was enrapturing to the Beowolf.

Time passed in the blink of an eye as Fenrir sat listening with his head in his hands as the sun disappeared and the moon took its place and eventually they were asked to leave the library as it was closing. Before leaving however, Fenrir asked to checkout the book of fairy-tales he had been reading (With some small assistance from Blake of course)

With that, Blake and Fenrir walked out of the library and back to their dorms. Coming up to an intersection, the two parted ways with a small handwave and a nod.

" _So that's...Weiss and Blake."_ Fenrir thought as he paced back to his room " _They seem like nice people, maybe I'm just being paranoid"_

It was as he thought this, the Grimm turned a corner, and collided with a stack of pancakes on legs

...wait what?

Looking down, Fenrir indeed spotted a plate with what looked like a tower of pancakes stacked haphazardly on a plate, being carried by a girl in a pink skirt who only barely came up past his hips height wise

"Whoops sorry about that"

The ginger haired girl responded with far too much enthusiasm in Fenrir's opinion, especially for someone who had just been knocked onto the floor. Despite the sudden collision, Fenrir's mood was not in any way affected and he reached down to offer the girl a hand up.

"It's alright" he responded in a gruff tone

Bringing the girl back up to her feet, Fenrir's ears twitched at the sound of approaching footfalls. Sure enough a second female came running down the corridor calling out to the smaller female.

Though the arrival of the second person caused Fenrir's mood to sink like a rock.

" _Ruby..."_

"Nora wait up!" The girl called out in-between gasping for air "You better not start eating those pancakes without me"

As Ruby caught up to the two, the girl finally noticed the wolf eared boy helping Nora to her feet. The man looked as tense as a coiled spring and Ruby was instantly reminded of his strange aversion towards her

"Um..." Ruby shuffled awkwardly "Hello"

A myriad of thoughts were swirling through the Alpha's head. The logical part of him wanted to stop being so jumpy and just talk to the girl, Another part of him, the part that still felt the sting of crescent roses blade slicing through his flesh had only one thing to say.

" _Nope"_

And without a moments hesitation, Fenrir walked past the silver eyed girl and then legged it back to his room, Ruby calling out to him all the while.

"Hey, wait" Ruby yelled but the Faunus was already long gone.

"Looks like he was in a hurry" Nora responded obliviously

Ruby meanwhile could only look on towards where the dark haired boy had just been, wondering with increasing concern just what she could have done to him to warrant this kind of behaviour.

...

As soon as Fenrir was back in his room, he slammed and locked the door shut and then pressed his back up against the wooden frame just to be safe. Once he was certain he hadn't been followed, only then did he release the breath he didn't even realise he had been holding, After that he let out a loud groan of annoyance and then walked over to his desk to slam his head down onto the surface

" _I am one of the worlds most deadly and efficient predators. But at the sight of one silver eyed girl I run away like a coward. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!"_

After staying in that position for some time, Fenrir let out a puff of air and shook the experience from his mind. After depositing his bag and uniform, Fenrir took hold of his new book, running a calloused hand along its cover. Not really feeling in the mood to sleep right now, he decided he would try to get through one more story before succumbing to sleep.

With that he ran and leapt up to the ledge of his singular window and then, by the light of the moon, read well into the night, tail swishing below him in a lazy arc

" _This is nice"_ He thought to himself as his room was bathed in the lunar rays of nigh time _"This is really... nice"_

 **A/N: And that's another one done. I must say while it is getting easier to write Fenrir as a character, writing all the main girls is monstrously difficult as I am never sure if I'm really getting their characters across. If you guys and gals could offer me some pointers it would be very much appreciated, I love these characters as much as you do and as such I want to do them justice. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go watch the volume 5 finale and then despair over the fact I'm going to have to wait another year before volume 6. See you later**


	8. Chapter 8: A Grimm's day off

**A/N: So volume 5 has for all intents and purposes come to a close and what a ride it has been. Course now begins the long wait for volume 6 which is always fun. Oh well can't rush these things I guess. Anyway enjoy the chapter.**

Fenrir awoke half blind and in his bleary state, it took him a while to figure out why. He had fallen asleep still engrossed in his book, on the window ledge, which had caused the book to fall on his face. Upon removing the book from his face, Fenrir's retinas were promptly assaulted by the early morning sun. Taking a moment to shield his eyes to give them time to adjust, the Grimm noticed the sun was slightly higher in the sky than it was when he normally woke up

It was at this point Fenrir became painfully aware of the lack of a shrill, beeping sound in his room.

" _My alarm didn't wake me up"_

He had overslept, which meant he was late for class.

Leaping off of his ledge, Fenrir hastily grabbed for his scroll and checked the time to make sure. Sure enough his stomach sank as the digital readout confirmed his thoughts. The time read 9:26

" _Oh Dust!"_

Wasting no time, Fenrir snatched his crumpled uniform off his unused bed and ham fistedly reaffirmed it to his body.

Shirt, trousers, sweater, tie, boots, Leather jacket and gloves. With that complete, he grabbed his bag, stuffed his scroll into his back pocket and sprinted out the door. He had no idea what class he was supposed to be in, he hadn't had time to check, but he decided to just wing it and walk into the nearest classroom, and if he wasn't supposed to be there, he would ask for directions.

In his haste, the Beowolf failed to notice how bare the corridors were this morning, or that the few students wandering about, weren't exactly in uniform. After a short while Fenrir approached the door of professor Port's room and with all the grace of a charging rhino, burst through the door.

Only to be greeted by a completely empty classroom.

Confused, Fenrir walked around the barren room, almost expecting the class to jump out from under their desks and pounce on him. Finding nothing of the sort, Fenrir figured he must have gotten turned around at some point and made a move to leave the room, only to nearly walk head-first into Ozpin.

"Good morning Mr Lupus"

"GRAAHHH!"

Fenrir had to physically grab his arm to stop himself from punching the headmaster who merely raised a quirked eyebrow as the Grimm shot up into the air. Once Fenrir managed to slow his racing heart, he looked at Ozpin with a seething glare.

"Stop... doing... That!"

"Doing what?"

At that response, Fenrir could only shoot an 'Are you serious' look at the grey haired man who was smiling far too widely to not know what he was talking about, but Fenrir eventually shook his head, deciding it just wasn't worth it. Not this early in the morning.

"I must admit" Ozpin continued once Fenrir straightened himself up "I am surprised to see you here, I figured you would want to say in your room on your day off"

Fenrir's head tilted to the side as he had no idea what the older man was talking about. Ozpin elaborated upon the Beowolf's silence

"Today is Saturday Mr Lupus" Still nothing from the Grimm "If you'll look at your timetable, you will find that you have no classes today, or tomorrow for that matter"

Doing as instructed, Fenrir opened his scroll to indeed find that, for the next two days, his schedule was completely clear.

"It's a nice day out" Ozpin remarked as he looked out the nearest window "Seeing as your already out of your room, I'd suggest taking a walk around campus, get some fresh air"

Ozpin turned to the Grimm with a sly twinkle in his eye.

"Perhaps you might find Miss Schnee or Miss Belladonna on your travels"

Fenrir bristled as he realized he had just been caught out.

" _Figures you'd be watching me like a buzzard"_

"Enjoy your weekend Mr Lupus, use it as a time to refresh your mind in time for continuing classes on Monday"

And with that Ozpin left the room, cane and mug in hand as usual. Like on his first day Fenrir ran to the doorway to try and stop the Headmaster, only to yet again be met with an empty corridor. Fenrir growled in slowly building frustration and clenched the doorway with so much force, the wood splintered and cracked beneath his fingers.

" _That man is both impossible and exhausting"_

Sighing through his nose, Fenrir left the empty classroom and began a slow walk back to his dorm. It felt like forever since the Alpha had had a day where he had nothing to do. Back when he was in his true state, all that ever mattered was the next hunt, anything between then was just a hazy blur in the Wolf's memory. Staring out the hallway windows, Fenrir was yet again met with the sight of students casually milling about, some walking over to the giant metal transports Fenrir had hitched a ride on in order to get here, only these ones were leaving the academy.

Others were simply lounging about on the grass, enjoying the warm spring day. Fenrir debated internally whether or not he wanted to stay in his room and avoid everyone for the rest of the day.

Or go outside and... possibly, maybe relax for a day.

Quite honestly while the academy itself was big, Fenrir couldn't help but feel cramped up over the past few days. He was a Beowolf, by nature he was supposed to be outdoors. Plus over the course of the week, his body had grown complacent with the minimal physical activity, and he could feel his muscles start to degrade.

As a supposed top of the line predator, that simply would not do.

" _Perhaps I can use this time to get some exercise, go for a run or something"_

With that idea set in his mind, Fenrir decided to go out and enjoy the fresh air.

After he went back to his room and changed out of his uniform of course

...

Fenrir knew that, condition and fitting wise, his uniform was superior to the clothes he had initially come to Beacon in. On the other hand his uniform reeked of detergent and it just felt unnatural on him, restrictive even.

So because of that, Fenrir was now wandering across school ground in his Grey sweatshirt and dark navy Jeans, which in his opinion were far more comfortable.

The day was indeed very scenic, with not a cloud in the sky, the sun bathed the land in its heat giving rays. Small gusts of wind occasionally stroked the small grass blades that covered the school field that the Grim soon found himself wandering through. Fenrir closed his eyes and just, appreciated the tiny breezes as they tussled his hair and opened his airways.

Being outside again for what felt like an age, Fenrir allowed his mind to wander, back to the days when he and his pack travelled unabated across all of Remnant. It made him long for the days when he had truly been free.

Free and powerful and unaffected by the troubles of the world.

But then the moment passed and the Grimm opened his eyes to see that he was in fact still at the academy and not in the outlands. Nothing more than a prisoner trapped in a feeble, human body. Fenrir frowned as his mind drifted to this depressing line of thought and in an effort to stave off the thoughts, started to jog across the field.

The field surrounding the academy was long and vast. After a minute or two, Fenrir started to feel the familiar burn in his muscles and sting in his lungs as his body started to work to keep him moving. The world around him started to blur as his body pushed him faster and faster, his blood thumping in his ears in time with his heart. In what felt like no time at all he had crossed the entire field. Not feeling satisfied, Fenrir began a second run around the grassy plains. The sun beating down on him all the while.

The Grimm carried on in this manner for quite some time until he finished his sixth lap round the campus, then he felt he had done enough and stopped in place to take in great gulps of air. He had worked up a sufficient sweat that created a sheen on his forehead and the muscles in his legs burned with lactic acid. Despite this Fenrir still didn't feel fully worked out, but by now the sun was too high in the sky and "

He always had preferred the cooler climates.

Walking leisurely back to the main campus, Fenrir took the down time to resume his people watching. Some students were just laying down, resting on the grass, while others were in their small groups, conversing with each other. A few students had even had the same idea as Fenrir and were in the middle of light exercises on the grassy field. Though Fenrir had no intention of going light on himself today, he was a hunter, his body had to reflect as such at all times

" _No weakness... ever"_

As the Grimm walked past a small gaggle of females, he couldn't help but notice a few of them were giving him... odd looks. One or two of them even waved at him in a bizarrely slow way. Shaking his head, the Beowolf just ignored them and carried on his way.

" _Freaky humans"_

What the Alpha had failed to notice was that, because of his workout, the small build up of perspiration on his body had caused his sweatshirt to cling to him tightly.

Leaving little to the imagination.

Of course the Beowolf had no clue about any of this and simply carried on to the academy interior.

...

After some wandering, Fenrir eventually found himself in an area that looked to be close to what he was looking for. That being a gym, with various pieces of workout equipment scattered across the massive room. In one corner, the Grimm saw a section filled with various weights and dumbbells. In another corner was a small assortment of treadmills and... a bicycle with no wheels?

In the centre stood a small sparring ring and to the right of this was a series of bags hung up on chains. After fully taking in the room, Fenrir decided to start with the bags figuring the machines would be too complicated and the ring was currently occupied.

Who the ring was occupied by, nearly caused the Alpha to walk out the room altogether

" _The Blonde..."_

Indeed the elder sister of the silver eyed girl was currently sparring with some other male (Who also happened to be blonde) and very clearly winning. Electing to instead simply keep his head down, Fenrir walked over to the bag furthest from the ring. Testing the bag with an open palm, the Grimm found it to be made of a sturdy material, the outer layer feeling similar to the leather on his jacket. After a few experimental shoves, Fenrir began to mercilessly attack the hanging bag with all his strength. Within moments the bag was swinging wildly on it's chain as Fenrir's fists pounded against the tough material with reckless abandon.

As Fenrir continued his vicious assault against the helpless bag, he became too caught up in his own aggression to notice that he was being watched. Yang had noticed the wolf Faunus's entry and out of the corner of her eye, watched as the larger man, savagely whaled on the inanimate object. He had strength, that much was certain, but Yang could tell from a distance that he had little to no control over his swings, wasting far too much energy in the wind up and the wideness of his swings made them far too easy to telegraph. Any competent fighter would be able to easily dodge his blows.

Speaking of which, Yang effortlessly dodged the clumsy right swing from her fellow blonde and with one solid blow, sent her opponent flying out of the ring. Jaune could only flail uselessly as he sailed through the air. Thankfully he landed on a pile of crash mats so the damage to his body hadn't been too severe. The damage to his pride however, would probably be a tad more extensive.

After a moment, Jaune shakily rose to his feet, cradling his head in his hands. Really he had no one to blame but himself for this turn of events, he had been the one who agreed to Yang's suggestion of a 'quick spar' and was now suffering the consequences for his poor decision making.

"You ok Jaune?" Yang called out from the ring "Didn't mean to hit you that far"

"Ah... It's alright Yang, it was just my face, and my everything"

Yang couldn't help but let out a small chuckle as the boy stood there sheepishly

"If it's alright with you I'm gonna go take a seat and take a breather"

"Ok Jaune" Yang said as the boy walked (Or more appropriately limped) over to the nearest bench.

"HRAAGH!"

All of a sudden Jaune had to very quickly duck as a giant sandbag came sailing towards him through the air. Fenrir had hit the bag with such staggering force, the chain holding the bag to the ceiling snapped and caused the bag to go flying in the air, eventually slamming into the wall just to the right of Jaune's head. Fenrir was now breathing heavily, his knuckles throbbing from the repeated impacts against the tough leather.

A low whistle reached the Grimm's lupine ears and he turned to see that the Blonde girl was looking right at him. It was only then the Alpha realised the female wasn't in her uniform but was in fact wearing a tan coloured jacket with a yellow undershirt, both doing absolutely nothing to cover her navel. Along with this was a strange skirt-shorts combo wherein the back half was a tan coloured skirt, and the front was plain black short shorts. Finishing off the look was a pair of knee length brown boots. If the Grimm had to describe the Female's outfit in one word it would be revealing.

" _Clearly this one is incredibly self confident. Or attention seeking, one or the other"_

"You pack quite a punch" The girl called out, vaulting over the ropes that bordered the sparring ring " But unlike that sandbag, bad guys aren't going to stay still and let you hammer away at them"

As the girl walked up to the Grimm, Fenrir visibly started to tense up, but just like on his first day, the blonde seemed oblivious to his unease as she picked up a second bag with one hand and attached it to the chain.

"Just a bit of advice, one would be huntsman to another" Yang looked behind her shoulder at the puzzled Beowolf, rolling her shoulders and cracking her knuckles " Keep your arms close to your body, you swing too wide, which means your wasting energy on your wind up. Focus your strikes and..."

With that the blonde delivered a straight jab to the bulky sack and instantly the bag shot up into the air, driven by the pure kinetic force of the blow. Fenrir's eyes couldn't help but widen at the sudden display of power. He had seen from previous matches in Glynda's training matches that the Blonde was ridiculously strong, but seeing it up close like this was something to behold in the Grimm's opinion. Once the bag settled back down on its chain, Yang stepped away and gestured for the larger man to step forward.

"Go ahead, try it out"

Sceptical, Fenrir walked up to the bag and held his hands up in front of his face. Giving a sideways glance to Yang, who only nodded to him encouragingly, Fenrir brought his arms in close to his body, eyes zeroing in on the padded bag. A moment passed and then with lightning speed, Fenrir shot his right fist forwards and drove his knuckles into the tough material. Immediately the bag rocketed backwards, the chain lurching in protest and the Grimm stepped back in mild surprise.

That shot had been just as powerful as his other swings, but cost less than half the effort. Yang made a single clap with her hands and walked up to the side of the Grimm.

"See, much easier"

Emboldened, Fenrir raised his arms up again and struck at the bag as it repositioned itself. Once more the bag went rocketing off as the Grimm shot blow after blow into the battered bag. After a while Yang stood behind the bag, which caused Fenrir to stop in confusion.

"Just keeping it stable for ya" Said the girl as she braced herself behind the bag "Go on go nuts, but try and aim for different spots, variety keeps the other guy guessing making it nearly impossible for him to tell where your gonna hit next"

Normally the Alpha would have been perturbed by having a female dustling giving him fighting advice, but right now in the middle of an adrenaline high, Fenrir was more than willing to take the new information on board. And so the two quickly fell into a routine of Fenrir striking feverishly at the sandbag, whilst Yang absorbed the blows like they were nothing. After a certain amount of time passed, the two would swap positions and then Yang would start hammering away whilst Fenrir braced against the onslaught, conditioning his shoulder and leg muscles in the process.

Yang, ever the trickster, decided to mess around with the leather clad teen. See up until now she hadn't been channelling her aura into her strikes, but from the constant barrage of the boy's blows against the sandbag, her semblance had built up a respectable amount of kinetic energy and she felt a strong need to release the built up power. All at once golden light flooded the room, as if someone had taken off the ceiling and thrown the sun into the middle of the room, as Yang focused her Aura's energies into her right arm.

Before Fenrir could even question where the strange light was coming from, Yang struck the bag with the relative force of a freight train... that was also on fire. Immediately the chain snapped into dozens of pieces and both the bag and the Grimm were sent hurtling towards the far wall.

Fenrir could only let out a surprised yelp as he collided, hard with the wooden wall, splintering the planks from the impact. Were it not for his own aura, this blow would have done considerable damage to the Grimm, but instead all he received from the impact was a sore back and a sudden stiffness in his shoulders.

By the time Fenrir recovered from his sudden flight, Yang was above him offering a hand up.

"Yeah, always be ready for something like that" Yang said with an all too coy smirk on her lips " I don't care how tough you are, that's gonna hurt"

Fenrir was truly impressed, he knew aura could make these dustlings far stronger than they had any right to be, but that single strike had been something else.

Regardless of his feelings towards humans, Grimm could always respect power, and this girl just proved she had it in spades. With that in mind, Fenrir gratefully accepted the offered hand and got back to his feet.

"You... are... very strong"

Yang's grin took on a more cocky angle as she accepted the sudden praise

"Yeah I get that a lot"

It was a moment later, the blonde realized the wolf Faunus was now holding a hand out to her.

"Fenrir"

With much gusto , Yang brought her own hand forward and firmly grasped the boy's hand.

"Yang, and a how do you do"

...

After that, things quickly devolved from merely exercising, to a competition of strength between the two brawlers. From seeing who could lift the most weights, to who could run the fastest on the treadmills, to even who could lug around the most gym equipment without collapsing. Even the blonde boy from earlier (Who introduced himself as Jaune to the Grimm, who likewise shook his hand and introduced himself in turn) returned to the two, acting as a referee to the two's impromptu battle of the boasts.

It was oddly nostalgic for the Grimm, reminding him of his younger years, when he would constantly get involved in silly little competitions with his fellow alpha's to see which among them was the strongest. Sadly Fenrir didn't actually win a great deal against the blonde girl, but he attributed that to the fact that the girl was able to use her aura to boost her physical prowess. Something Fenrir couldn't do yet.

Not without running the risk of his own aura turning against him, like it did in the alleyway a week ago.

In what felt like no time at all, it was already mid-afternoon, the sun beginning its slow descent in the sky and Yang decided to wrap up for the day. Fenrir felt as if his body had been put through the ringer, so he was more than ready to agree. His muscles burned from exertion, and his hair was slick with sweat, plastered against his forehead. Despite this the Grimm felt incredibly satisfied. If he kept this up, he would be back to peak physical condition in no time.

" _Nothing less for a true predator like myself"_

On their way out the gym, Yang and Jaune offered Fenrir him an opportunity for a coffee in a nearby student breakroom. Fenrir recalled fondly the taste of the molten liquid from the café and eagerly accepted with a few fervent nods of his head.

As the group of three walked through the halls, Yang took a moment to reflect on her thoughts on the Wolf boy as he walked ahead slightly, tail swishing behind him.

While her abilities to sense other peoples aura's weren't as precise as someone like Pyrrha or Weiss, Yang could tell that the boy now known as Fenrir had quite a sizable aura.

And he hadn't used any of it during their sudden contest.

That meant throughout that whole session, he had been using his raw, physical strength alone to lift up an entire weight rack, with the weights still on it.

While Fenrir had lost overall, Yang was impressed that he had been able to do as much as he had done with no aid whatsoever.

" _Imagine if he actually used his aura, he could probably lift a truck with no problem"_

Arriving at the small room that doubled as both a common room and a kitchen for this area of the academy, Yang fired up the coffee machine as the two boys got to talking.

"So your from Menagerie huh?"

Fenrir, reminded of his cover story, simply nodded his head and brushed his bangs out of his face.

"Must have been quite a trip"

The blonde male seemed friendly enough, but Fenrir noted he was among the group of people he had listed in his head as people he could take down with little issue. The Grimm had seen this 'Jaune' go into the sparring ring a few times in Glynda's combat classes, and it was not impressive in the least.

" _Never mind my not being used to a human body, It's as if he doesn't have any experience combat wise"_

" So did you do a lot of training I guess, or went to a combat school before this one?"

Fenrir could feel tension return to his body. He wasn't exactly good at this lying thing, but he did find it easier if he kept his statements brief.

"I... spent... a lot of... time... outdoors"

Before Jaune could probe further, Fenrir decided to turn the tables by asking some questions of his own.

"What... about... you"

"Me..." Fenrir noticed the boy stiffen up slightly "well I just... uh... signed up to Beacon and here I am... simple as that"

Fenrir didn't buy it for a second, but decided it wasn't his place to pry. Every student was here because they were the best humanity had to offer, he had no reason to doubt Jaune's place here despite his lacklustre performances in the ring.

"Hey Fenrir!" Yang shouted across the room " How do you take your coffee"

Just like before, the Grimm's mouth moved on autopilot as he asked for an absurd amount of cream and sugar in his beverage. Yang and Jaune both looked at him weirdly as he clamped a hand around his mouth, but after a minute or two, Yang returned holding three steaming mugs in her left hand, one for each of them.

After handing the Faunus his drink, Yang let out a quiet sigh as she leaned up against the wall. Fenrir himself, started happily guzzling down the sweet yet bitter beverage.

" Gotta say, I haven't worked out that hard in a long time. Your not half bad wolf boy"

While not a fan of the sudden nickname, Fenrir nodded in appreciation to the blonde girl

"So if you don't mind me asking" Yang's tone suddenly took on a slightly more serious edge as she leaned in closer to the Grimm "Why were you so jumpy around me and my time all week?"

Fenrir had been really hoping no one would ask him this question. During his walk to the breakroom, Fenrir had reflected on his behaviour over the past few days and felt like he had behaved like an all around idiot. He had gotten to know three of the group of four and so far they had been nothing but accommodating to him, making his previous actions seem all the sillier in hindsight.

Weiss had helped him understand his academic work. Blake introduced him to reading. Yang had trained with him all day and even made a game of it.

Ruby... he'd cross that bridge if he ever came to it.

Deciding to be a bit more honest, Fenrir replied in a sombre tone.

"I'm... not good... with ... dustl...people"

Yang caught the slip up on the word 'dust' but without context, had no idea what it meant. Regardless the Blonde offered the man a sympathetic smile.

"So you were just shy huh?"

Fenrir bristled lightly at having his fear being childishly referred to as 'shy' but figured to just roll with it and nodded his head.

"Well you don't seem so shy anymore" Yang responded cheerily "Now that you know us, you can come up and talk to us whenever you want. I promise we don't bite"

As Fenrir regarded these words with some suspicion, Yang leaned forward slightly and spoke with an edge to her voice.

"But you might want to tell Ruby that as soon as possible. My sis has been driving herself crazy trying to figure out what she did to hurt you"

Fenrir winced lightly, not at all looking forward to **that** conversation. But he reasoned he would have to speak to the red haired girl eventually, she was the whole reason he wound up at this academy to begin with.

A beeping sound started emanating from Jaune, who pulled out his scroll and looked at the notification that just popped up on the screen.

"Oop Gotta run, promised the others I'd help them study in the library"

Yang, never missing the opportunity for a joke, held her own coffee mug in hand.

"You'd better get going then Jaune, you wouldn't wanna be **LATTE** to meet them"

Jaune let out a loud groan at the awful pun whilst Fenrir just gave the girl a thoroughly confused look

"Latte...?"

Yang turned to the Faunus with wide eyed disbelief, never actually having to explain to someone what the joke was

"Cause you know... Latte sounds like late. And Jaune was going to be late"

Yang could practically see the cogs shifting in the Grimm's brain. But when he finally put the two together something astonishing happened.

All at ounce his shoulders started to shake, his arms wrapped around his chest and his eyes screwed themselves shut tight.

And then Fenrir let out a loud booming laugh, causing even Yang to jump back in alarm.

"Latte... late... sounds like...HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

All at ounce Yang's face lit up like a firework, whilst Jaune's went a ghostly pale

"Oh no" He said to himself " He likes puns"

...

Fenrir couldn't stop the near constant stream of giggles coming from his mouth. After Jaune left Yang hit the Grimm with a verbal barrage of lame puns and corny jokes. By the end Fenrir was rolling on the floor, howling in mirth, feeling a slight bruising sensation in his ribs.

It was all highly entertaining for the blonde however, who remarked how he was quite possibly the best audience she had ever had.

After that the two realised the sun had nearly fully set and the two headed back to their dorms.

As Fenrir walked to his room, random passer-by's would get a slight jolt of surprise when they saw the literal giant of a man, chortling to himself like he was a nine year old kid, but Fenrir could hardly care less.

He hadn't felt this good in a very long time.

The good mood quickly vanished however when, upon entering his room he found professor Ozpin standing beside his bed.

"Did you have a good Saturday Mr Lupus?"

While grimacing at the once again sudden appearance of the grey haired man , Fenrir nodded to the man to show, yes he had indeed had a good day.

"I'm happy to hear it" The man smiled lightly before quickly turning serious "However I am afraid I will have to take up your Sunday with an important task"

Fenrir gave the headmaster a questioning look, before walking over to the slightly taller man to hear his explanation.

" I believe I may have found a way to return you to your true form" The man explained quietly "But in order to prove my theory, you and I will have to travel to the Emerald forest tomorrow"

Upon these words, Fenrir felt a small spark of hope rise within his chest. Could it be, had the strange man truly found a way back to normal. Ozpin didn't know what to think of the Grimm's sudden enthusiasm but nonetheless continued

"I need you, to show me the dust pit you fell into, and I need you to show me what exactly happened the night you fell."

 **A/N:...I'm terrible at puns, please forgive me comedy god's. So now our wolf boy has met nearly all of team RWBY, now he just has to show some backbone and speak to the silver eyed girl herself. Finally huge HUGE thanks to you guys for the 100 followers, that was truly a highlight for my morning. See you next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9:overdue conversations part 1

**A/N: Forgot to mention this last chapter but as we're never given a specific timeline for when the events of volume1-3 take place, I decided to make an educated guess and placed the start of the academic year in the springtime and the end during the winter seasons. Enjoy the chapter.**

Fenrir awoke long before his alarm was supposed to wake him on that chilly Sunday morning. Thinking about it, Fenrir did wonder if he had actually gone to sleep at all. After Ozpin explained what they would be doing tomorrow, he had instructed the young Grimm to rest early as they would be leaving early in the morning.

After the grey haired man left, anticipation and nerves boiled away in the Grimm's stomach, making him feel slightly ill. On the one hand, it seemed as If Ozpin had developed a way to return Fenrir to his old body, on the other hand, in order to be sure of his theory the headmaster wanted the two of them to travel to the place where Fenrir's whole journey began.

The chamber of liquid dust that had disfigured his body and sent him on this agonizing journey across Vale, only to wind up at a human training school. To say he was reluctant to return to such a place would be a colossal understatement.

Yet at the same time, Fenrir just wanted it to be morning already so he could get this over with. The sooner this excursion was completed, the sooner the Grimm could possibly be reunited with his real body, and then he could leave this place. It was a bizarre combination of feelings that just wouldn't settle in the Grimm's mind.

An hour after dawn's first light, Fenrir's scroll let out a short, sharp chime that didn't sound a thing like his regular alarm. Activating his scroll, Fenrir saw an image of the headmaster along with another recording, like the one he had left on Fenrir's first day.

"Good morning Mr Lupus" Ozpin said, in that same relaxed tone that was both comforting, and irritating at the same time "When you are ready to head out, meet me at the school entrance, a Bullhead shall transport us to the Emerald forest and from there you can take us to where you were, changed."

And just like that, the message ended, Just as abruptly as Ozpin's first message. Not needing to be told twice, Fenrir quickly grabbed his jacket and gloves and marched out the door. This early on a Sunday morning, the hallways were practically deserted making it much easier for the Alpha to get up to speed without having to pull off sudden manoeuvres to avoid crashing into a crowd, and within minutes, was out the main entryway of the school and breathing in the crisp, early morning air.

The air was thick with springtime mist that was gradually descending to nourish the verdant green, fields of Beacon with dew. As Fenrir lightly jogged up the concrete pathway, the sound of rapid footfalls reached his lupine ears. Not knowing who else could be up this early in the morning, the Grimm risked a quick look back to see, to his horror a shock of bright, scarlet hair heading towards him.

However on closer inspection, Fenrir saw that this females hair was far longer than the silver eyed girls, done up in a neat ponytail and the red was far brighter than the Alpha's pint sized nightmare. Also the deep emerald eyes and the taller height were a dead giveaway that this was a different person altogether.

A different person who was steadily gaining on him.

"On your left" The girl called out as she swiftly passed him, her voice almost sickeningly sweet to the Grimm's ears .As the girl continued to race ahead of him, Fenrir could only stare in utter shock.

" _Did she just... pass me like it was nothing"_

A spark of annoyance, pricked at the Grimm's consciousness as he started to accelerate from a light jog, to a full on sprint. Little known fact, along with being incredibly headstrong, younger Grimm were also highly competitive.

" _Oh HELL NO! No Dustling is going to beat me in speed!"_

In seconds Fenrir was back, running alongside the scarlet haired female. She appeared shocked for a second, before an ever so slightly challenging smirk crossed her face, and just like that, she shot ahead of him again. Fenrir had initially just wanted to make his way semi briskly to the meetup point, but now he couldn't stop himself from rocketing up the concrete path.

For a time the two were in a constant back and forth, jostling for lead position as they raced along the pathway leading out of the academy. The girl ran like an athlete, perfect form and all. Head up straight, chest forward and arms loose and free. Fenrir ran more like a charging rhino, body low to the floor, head down, fists clenched and all power being shunted into his feet to drive him forward with every step. It was a clash of form against strength, and gradually form started to pull ahead.

As his calves burned and his lungs drank in more and more oxygen, Fenrir focused on going as fast as he could, in an act of desperation, actually going down on all fours and practically leaping in the air to catch up to the female.

It was for nought however as before either of them knew it, they were outside the school gates. The girl had won their impromptu race and Fenrir, as much as he wanted to be angry at that fact, could instead only lie down on the floor and focus on making sure air was getting to his brain. It was only then he realized just how stupid he had been to get so worked up into a race, as now all he had succeeded in doing was making himself hot, sweaty and tired before the day had even properly begun.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to push you so hard. Are you ok?"

Again, that sweet voice called out from above him. Opening his eyes, Fenrir saw the scarlet haired woman was now standing above him, appearing only slightly winded from the sudden, strenuous activity. While this again, irritated him to no end, he chose to simply growl under his breath and steadily, rise back up to his feet.

" _These humans seem almost determined to make me feel less than them, don't they"_ The Grimm thought darkly. Truthfully it was starting to get to him, just how easy these simple Dustlings were able to beat him. With every knock to his pride, it just caused his subdued rage to boil and simmer away in his core.

As Fenrir dusted himself down, the girl spoke up again.

"You must be Fenrir, right?"

The Grimm tensed up, wondering just how this mystery woman knew his name. The girl backed up slightly, seemingly sensing the man's hostile reaction and attempted to placate him.

"Oh Jaune told me about you on his way back from the breakroom"

" _Jaune... he's the Blonde male from yesterday"_

"I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to know that about you, Yang did mention you being shy around strangers"

At that the girl placed a hand over her mouth as if realizing she had said too much. Fenrir's brow further creased in irritation, apparently everyone had been talking about him behind his back to this unknown girl. Deciding to divert the conversation away from himself, Fenrir folded his arms and spoke to the female tersely

"How... do you... know Jaune"

"Oh he's my partner, we're on the same team together"

Fenrir nodded at this. At least information about him was being kept to specific individuals and not being passed around to everyone in the school. The idea was to keep a low profile after all.

"You... know who... I am" Fenrir spoke in that same coarse tone "Who...are...You?"

"Oh" The female had a look in her eyes that the Alpha actually recalled seeing before. It was the same look Weiss had given him when he told her he didn't know who she was. "Of course, my name is Pyrrha, very nice to meet you"

Holding her hand out, Fenrir tentatively shook hands with the redhead now known as Pyrrha.

"You can certainly run Fenrir" Pyrrha carried on, still smiling up at the man even as he continued to frown "I come out here every morning to warm up for the day, I didn't expect anyone else to be up this early"

" _You and me both lady"_

"Though I will admit, it was quite exciting to have someone to run against this time around"

Despite his irritation at losing, Fenrir felt his anger slowly being chipped away by Pyrrha's downright sunny demeanour. Soon after, Fenrir let out a long, low sigh and straightened up and spoke with a little less of an edge in his voice

"Yeah... same here"

Before the conversation could carry on any further, a third voice suddenly entered the picture

"Ah Mr Lupus, glad to see you got my message"

Fenrir only jumped slightly this time, but he still had to fight the urge to strike out at the sudden voice in his ear. Even Pyrrha stepped back in surprise as the headmaster revealed himself in his usual enigmatic way.

"And good morning to you Miss Nikos" Ozpin turned to address the redhead whilst Fenrir focused on slowing his heart rate down.

"Thank you Professor Ozpin"

With that, the grey haired man turned back to the wolf Faunus, a slight smile on his face.

"If you're done with your morning exercise's Mr Lupus, we should start making our way to the Emerald forest as soon as possible"

Fenrir scowled, he would hardly call what he just did exercise, not after yesterday. Still Ozpin was the reason he was even out here this early so with a nod to the headmaster, the Grimm made his way to the older man's side.

"It was nice to meet you Fenrir"

Pyrrha called out one last time as the two men walked away, Fenrir in turn waved back to the redhead and then turned to walk in stride with the other man. In no time at all, the two were on the bullhead, parked just outside the school gates. As Ozpin instructed the pilot to take them to the forest, Fenrir took a seat on one of the metal benches that was nailed to the transports interior. A few minutes later the Bullhead's engines roared to life and the great, mechanical beast rose up into the air. Looking below him, Fenrir watched as the academy became smaller and smaller, as the Bullhead took them to their destination.

With the academy behind them, Ozpin took a seat next to the disguised Grimm. For a time the two sat in silence, Fenrir continuing to look out the nearest window as the landscape blurred beneath him. A short cough interrupted his musing, turning to the source revealed Ozpin handing him a mug full of steaming hot coffee.

" _Where was he even hiding that!"_

Despite the mugs questionable appearance, the aroma of the brew was so rich, Fenrir couldn't stop himself from accepting the mug. Nodding to the headmaster in thanks, the Grimm proceeded to chug at the liquid fuel as if his life depended on it. It wasn't as sweet as what he was used to, but it still managed to warm up his very being and gave him a jolt of energy with every gulp.

From then on it was a silent ride to the Emerald forest, to the birthplace of Fenrir Lupus.

...

The Bullhead touched down half an hour later, on the forests edge roughly around the same place the recent batch of first years had begun their entrance exam. Ozpin could have just instructed the pilot to land them closer to the ruins, but he felt the journey would allow him to get better acquainted with the young Grimm.

Of course he tactfully decided not to tell Fenrir this, and instead told him that this was as far as the bullhead could take them into the forest. Fenrir not knowing any better, just went along with the headmasters words and joined him on the trek down the cliff face. For a time, Ozpin elected to remain silent as they walked through the dense underbrush, slightly hoping that the Grimm would attempt to initiate a conversation.

When it became clear that that wasn't going to happen, the headmaster sighed as he watched the clearly agitated teen walk ahead of him, shoulders tense and ears on high alert. Truthfully Fenrir did not like being back here, the memories of his aimlessly traipsing through this very forest with a body he barely knew how to use still fresh in his mind. With every step forward, the Grimm was all too aware of how close he was to the place where this whole infuriating ordeal began. The place where that silver eyed girl had nearly killed him.

He still wondered if maybe she had, and this was just his own twisted version of hell.

"How are you finding Beacon academy so far Mr Lupus?"

So deep in thought was the Alpha, he had almost forgotten he had company this time around. Company that only now decided to make small talk. Unfortunately Fenrir's patience was a little on the strained side and he really didn't feel like talking to the strange man.

So he didn't.

Ozpin took note of the Grimm's silence and waited a moment before trying again

"I noticed you seem to be getting along with a fair number of my first years, particularly members of team RWBY, what do you think of them, may I..."

"Stop!"

Fenrir snapped at the older man, looking over his shoulder to give him a downright hate filled glare. Ozpin was visibly surprised by the younger man's sudden outburst, but he did not relent.

"Did I say something to offend you?"

Fenrir started to pick up his pace, shoving through the low hanging branches and trampling across the bushes in his way.

"It... Doesn't... Matter" Fenrir continued through gritted teeth

"Very well" Ozpin carried on, seemingly unaware of the Alpha's gradually flaring temper "Let me ask you a more relevant question then, would you be willing to answer that at least?"

"No!"

"What will you do once we get you your old body back?"

This caused the Grimm to stop, Ozpin waiting patiently behind him. After a few seconds, Fenrir turned to look the headmaster dead in the eye, contempt burning in his midnight orbs.

"I... go... Far away... from here"

Ozpin frowned lightly before carrying on. "And then what?"

Fenrir started to growl lightly, stalking towards the slightly taller man.

"What... are you... getting at?!"

Ozpin appeared not the least bit intimidated. Though he did show a small amount of concern as he looked into the younger mans eyes.

"You hold a lot of anger in your heart" Fenrir blinked "Why did you come to be so full of hate?"

Fenrir could hardly believe his ears. Did Ozpin just forget that he wasn't human.

" _Full of hate. He has the nerve to say that like its a bad thing. Hate is what kept me alive for all these years"_

"I... am... a Grimm" Fenrir all but snarled at the bespectacled man " We... are born... from hatred"

"But why? Why do **you** hate humanity so much? What are your reasons?"

Fenrir paused for a moment, thinking over his answer, before responding in a voice as cold as ice.

"You... are... un...grateful"

This had not been what Ozpin was expecting, but now he was intrigued

"What do you mean by that?"

Fenrir turned to carry on walking, Ozpin following behind at a more sensible pace.

"You... Spread across Remnant... Ripping the Dust... from the ground...ravaging... the land... wherever you... walk... and your... never... thankful for it... you just... want more"

Ozpin couldn't deny the Grimm's words, but he did feel there was an argument to be had in humanities favour.

"Perhaps we would be more grateful, if your kind didn't constantly hunt us throughout the centuries"

At that Fenrir turned back to the headmaster and spoke in an uncharacteristically dark voice.

"We... wouldn't hunt you... if you... just... DIED"

A moment of silence passed between the two, before Fenrir stalked ahead, eager to get to the forest ruins and end this pointless debate.

" I just have one more question then Mr Lupus"

Fenrir let out a sigh of exasperation as he continued to walk ahead.

"What?"

"Who, or what made the Grimm?"

The very ambience of the forest seemed to mute itself at this question. One of the oldest memories Fenrir had, older than even himself, resurfaced to the forefront of his mind.

A flowing, black dress that appeared to be made of liquid shadow. Deep crimson eyes over black sclera. Blackened veins, criss-crossing over alabaster skin.

Fenrir glanced to the side at the headmaster, in a voice that seemed almost dead to the world.

"Someone... far stronger... than you"

...

After that, the two men carried on in silence, Ozpin thinking the Grimm's responses over whilst Fenrir silently fumed to himself. He didn't know exactly where this sudden temper flare had come from, but he did know that the grey haired man's constant questions had grown steadily more grating with every passing minute. He didn't enjoy being analysed by the older man.

Ozpin was slightly disappointed with the Grimm's abrasiveness to his questions, but at the same time he could sense the Faunus's conflict. The Grimm still wasn't overly fond of humans, that was still all too obvious in the Beowolf's eyes, but Ozpin had watched him slowly open up to his students over the course of the past week and this fact obviously didn't sit right in the boy's head. It put his whole worldview into question.

" _Perhaps"_ Ozpin thought to himself " _He just needs a little more time to adjust"_

Soon after, the two had arrived at the forest ruins, and more importantly at the enormous cavern that now lay off to the side of the centuries old towers, like the mouth of a giant, a great split in the earth. The headmaster and student looked to each other, before carefully making their way down the cliff face.

As they descended deeper and deeper into the darkened depths, Fenrir felt his nerves reach a fever pitch. The weeks spent skulking around trapped in these caves had not been kind to the Grimm and his pack, not even counting the transformation that was still an agonizing memory fresh in the Wolf's mind.

Far too soon for the Beowolf's liking, the two touched down on the cave floor. The silence was suffocating, this far below the surface and despite it now being late in the morning, the sunlight could barely penetrate the pitch black darkness that shrouded the place.

The two walked cautiously through the dark expanse, searching for a tell-tale light source that they both knew should be around here. What they found instead was a stone pit full of what looked like murky limewater. Fenrir was obviously confused, last time he was here that pit was glowing with an eerie, green light.

Ozpin bent down and ran his hand through the dull liquid. Lifting his hand back up revealed that the liquid that once flowed like water, was now as thick as sludge. Fenrir turned his nose up in disgust as the goop slipped through the older mans fingers.

"What... happened...to it?"

"It appears the dusts reactive properties have been completely used up" Ozpin hummed to himself in contemplation, before turning back to the Grimm and gesturing for him to come forward. Doing as instructed, Fenrir crouched down beside the headmaster who once again, placed a hand upon his head.

" _This feels demeaning, for both of us"_ Fenrir grumbled as the older man concentrated.

For a time there was silence in the dark cave, and then Ozpin removed his hand from the Beowolf's head and stood back up.

"It is as I thought" Ozpin muttered quietly "Your body didn't just transform the day you fell into the pit, it took all the stored up energy in the pit and repurposed it into an artificial aura."

Fenrir took in the information as best he could.

"You should consider yourself lucky" Ozpin continued " This pit had just enough liquid dust to allow the transformation, any less you wouldn't have changed at all and simply drowned, too much and the dust would have flooded your body and you would have exploded"

Fenrir's face took on a... well Grim expression as he processed that little piece of information. Whilst the headmaster pondered to himself, the Alpha walked over to the cracked glass wall that stood at the end of the cavern.

The imprint of his fist was still plain to see as various cracks splintered out from the centre of the impact zone and just as before, Fenrir could still see his reflection in the cracked glass. While Ozpin continued to talk, Fenrir just stared at his reflection, not sure what to think of the man that stared back at him.

"Fenrir, your aura is doing more than just protecting your human body" The headmaster spoke gravely "It is also containing your Grimm body, suppressing your darker impulses and concealing your true image"

Fenrir turned back to the grey haired man.

"So.. how... do I... turn back?"

Ozpin thought to himself for a moment before turning to face the Grimm

"The only solution I can think of, is if we completely depleted your aura" Ozpin paused for a second before shaking his head "But that is not possible, aura's always regenerate over time and, while you can activate a persons aura easily, deactivating one is virtually impossible. At most it would only be a temporary solution"

Fenrir scowled at this, it was precisely what he didn't want to hear.

"So.. I'm... stuck.. like this?"

Ozpin approached warily, virtually feeling the wolf's steadily growing malice. He needed to tread carefully.

"For the moment" Fenrir's hackles rose " but do not despair just yet, at any rate, we now have much more information to work with and we now know for certain what exactly changed you. We're not Atlas, but Beacon academy has some of the latest dust technologies at its disposal, I'm sure we can find some way to permanently remove your aura, if that is still what you want"

With these words, the Alpha quickly calmed down. As long as there was hope that he could still be fixed, then he was willing to play along with these humans antics.

"In.. the meantime?" Fenrir asked, already knowing the answer

"In the meantime, I'm afraid you will have to continue being Fenrir Lupus for a while longer"

Fenrir audibly sighed at this, his first week had been exhausting. To have to keep doing the same routine for Oum knows how long, well he wasn't looking forward to it.

Before the two could decide on their next move, a low growling sound reached their ears. Turning to the shadows that engulfed the caverns edges, revealed a pair of burning crimson eyes glowing in the dark.

And from out of these shadows, a lone Beowolf stalked towards the pair. It was small, barely bigger than a pony and from the look of it, it had seen better days. Fenrir recognized this wolf, it was one from his own pack, probably the last of his pack judging by the state of him. When the Beowolf looked at him however, there was no recollection in the monsters eyes.

Only hunger and hate.

With a thunderous roar, the Grimm charged at the leather clad Faunus, fangs bared and itching for blood.

Fenrir could only stare in shock, all of a sudden he was on the receiving end, a target to one of the most dangerous beasts on Remnant. All of a sudden the once proud hunter, felt like prey to his own kind.

SCHWING!

Before the Alpha could so much as blink, the Grimm's body slumped lamely to the floor.

Whilst it's head sailed through the air and collided into Fenrir's chest with all the weight of a bowling ball. Looking down into his arms, Fenrir gazed at the now lifeless eyes that stared back at him, all previous fire held within them promptly extinguished. The Grimm was used to death, he had seen his fair share over the course of his life, from both fallen kin and human corpses.

That didn't stop the full body shudder from coursing through him when he realized, he was holding the severed head of one of his own packmates in his hands, Black smoke already seeping out of the torn socket as the body started to rapidly desiccate.

Dropping the wolfs head in disgust, Fenrir turned to Ozpin, only to find he was actually standing on the other side of the room, slicing his cane through the air.

As if quickly ridding it of blood.

Turning back to face the now lone Grimm, Ozpin spoke with a tone of finality

"Now then I believe our business here is concluded, shall we head back Mr Lupus"

Not even waiting for a response, Ozpin briskly walked out of the cavern and back to the cliff face they had climbed down from. Fenrir stared down at the steadily evaporating body of the Beowolf, significantly concerned at how very suddenly and how effortlessly Ozpin had killed the beast.

" _This could be me, if I'm not careful"_

With a moments contemplation, Fenrir eventually turned his back to the corpse and moved to join the headmaster in his ascension back to the forest proper.

...

The trip back to the Bullhead, as well as the flight back to Beacon, was as quiet as the dead. Fenrir was yet again left stewing in his own ire. His chances of being reunited with his true form had just become that much bleaker with this little outing. Now his hope rested yet again on the grey haired man finding some sort of way to remove his volatile aura permanently. In the meantime, he would have to continue posing as just another student, an act he didn't feel he could keep up much longer.

Ozpin meanwhile continued to observe the younger mans distress from the corner of his eye. He had anticipated that this would be a slow process, but from the looks of things, the Grimm still didn't seem to be overly receptive to the idea of living like a human. He needed a push, something to convince him that humanity was worth more than just his hate.

" _His points about humans are valid, but I need to get him to understand that humans can be more than just that. We can give as well as take"_

After a while, the towering spires of Beacon were once again visible to the pair as the sun already began its descent through the blue sky. As the transport touched down just outside the academy entryway, Fenrir leapt of the still hovering transport and landed on the solid concrete.

Once Ozpin had also disembarked, Fenrir made to walk away, intent on simply returning to his room and staying there, maybe scream into a pillow or something. Before he could do that however, the headmaster called out to the Grimm one last time.

"Fenrir" The Alpha groaned quietly before turning back to the older man, only just now realizing the sudden, sombre tone the man spoke in.

"You are not wrong when you say that sometimes, humans have taken more than we have given, we make mistakes and perhaps we have taken our gifts for granted recently. But please believe me when I say that we are worth more than just your hatred. And you already know that. You may stand there and deny it, but you have seen what we can be capable of, what we could teach you, and indeed what you could teach us. There is much we still don't know about you or your kind, but I hope, I pray that in time we could both help each other to achieve something spectacular, something extraordinary"

"...What?"

Ozpin walked up to the confused Grimm, before placing a hand on his shoulder

"Understanding"

And with that Ozpin left without another word, leaving the Beowolf standing motionless. For what felt like an eternity Fenrir just stood there, repeating the mans words, over and over in his head until it physically hurt.

" _Understanding... between Humans and Grimm. That's not possible, we were born to destroy humans. I can't ever be like them... not ever"_

Suddenly the Grimm felt... sad, but he had no idea why. Shaking the unwanted thoughts from his brain, Fenrir began a slow trudge back to the academy proper. Once he entered the main hall however, he didn't feel up to walking back to his room, his mind still caught in a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.

" _I...I...I need a coffee"_ He eventually thought somewhat half heartedly.

Retracing his steps from yesterday, Fenrir eventually made his way back to the student breakroom from the day before. This time around though, he was by himself and the room itself was completely empty of other people. Fenrir had casually observed Yang yesterday as she used the rooms coffee machine, so he had a vague understanding of how this was supposed to work. He flipped the switch on the small machine and within moments, the sound of boiling water and grinding coffee beans reached his ears.

As he waited for the beverage to heat up, Fenrir took to looking out the window as the sun continued to set, casting the world into a deep amber glow. The headmasters words resurfacing again and again in his head, despite how unwanted they were

" _This was supposed to be easy"_ He thought bitterly _"I just wanted to get my body back. Now... now... now it's all so complicated"_

Fenrir continued to groan and grumble to himself, so caught up in his musings he failed to notice the sound of a door opening and shutting. Nor the sound of light footsteps making their way closer to him.

He did however catch the light, feminine gasp that came from right behind him.

"Oh... it's you" a distinctly high pitched voice called out.

Instantly, Fenrir felt his blood freeze, his heart stop and his lungs constrict. Slowly turning his head around, begging silently that he was just hearing things, Fenrir instead came face to face with someone he knew he would eventually have to confront. That didn't make him any more prepared as he once again became rooted in place at the sight of dark red hair.

And deep silver eyes.

" _Oh... dust no"_

 **A/N: OOOOOOhhhh it's finally happening, how do you think it's gonna play out. My money's on not very well. So my main goal with this chapter was to try and establish a bit more why exactly, Fenrir is none too fond of humans and slowly show how his worldview is steadily being changed, through a combination of humility (Weiss battle) and wisdom (Ozpin). I plan to get one more chapter out before the end of January that way I can have a nice even ten chapters in one month. Not too bad if I say so myself, but my sleep schedule would strongly disagree. Eh what does he know.**


	10. Chapter 10 Overdue conversations pt 2

**A/N: Well here we are at ten chapters already, it may be premature of me to say this but for me 2018 has already been a much better year for me than 2017 ever was, and I have this story to thank, along with you guys for showing it a tremendous amount of support. Rest assured I intend to keep this story going for as long as I can, and always deliver nothing but my best material to you. Rant over, enjoy the chapter.**

Ruby Rose was not the type of person who enjoyed a lazy Sunday. She didn't hate them, she just much rather preferred to always be doing something, be it hanging out with her teammates or just tinkering with Crescent Rose. Today she had been unable to do either of those things and had only come to the student breakroom as a last resort, just to stave off the cloud of boredom that hung over her head.

When she arrived in the room, only to find the large, wolf eared boy who had been avoiding her like the plague for the past week, her boredom very quickly vanished and was instead replaced with a quiet apprehension

"Oh... It's you"

Slowly the leather wearing boy turned to face the cloak wearing girl. What little colour he did have, rapidly left his face as he stared down at her, his eyes shrinking to pinpricks.

" _Well"_ Ruby thought to herself _"This should be nice and awkward"_

And awkward it was, as for a solid minute and some change, neither of the two students said a word to each other. Ruby looked around nervously, unable to look the man in the eye, whilst he looked as if he was trying to burn a hole through her head. Searching the room desperately trying to find something to talk about, Ruby noticed the full coffee pot that had just boiled over.

"Mind if I have some?" She asked with a shaky smile. Fenrir's eyes quickly darted over to the machine, before almost immediately shooting back to the redhead, as if not daring to take his eyes of her for even a moment

Again more silence blanketed the room before Ruby, very awkwardly shuffled over to the counter.

"Okaaaaayyy"

As Ruby made her way across the room, Fenrir moved slowly in time with her, always making sure his front was always facing the smaller girl.

Like a cornered beast, never turning its back on a predator.

As Ruby went to grab a fresh mug, The Grimm was stuck between two options, either try and stealthily make his way past the girl and out the door, or just dive bomb out the nearest window. Not liking the idea of having to pick out glass shards from his skin, Fenrir tentatively made his way over to the door that now looked miles away.

He barely made it two steps before the girl spoke up again, freezing him in place

"Hey, didn't you want one too?"

Turning to look at him, Ruby found herself increasingly put off by the boys stiff posture and locked jaw. In fact she swore she could see him sweating slightly. Frowning lightly, Ruby decided to stop dancing around the issue and try for a more direct approach.

"Hey" Ruby called out, a bit louder than before. This got the older boys attention as he craned his neck to look at her directly.

"My sister Yang, told me you were a bit on the shy side. And trust me I know how it feels to suddenly be in an unfamiliar place with lots of unfamiliar faces"

Fenrir winced at the word 'shy'. Just what exactly, was that blonde female telling these people.

" _Is that what I'm gonna be known as. The shy guy"_ Fenrir thought despairingly

"But" The girl carried on, steadily inching her way towards the riled up Grimm "You've been acting really strange around me recently. I don't know if I did something to you before Beacon but, whatever it is I did I didn't mean it. My sister says your actually quite nice, so I'd like to get to know you."

The girls words sounded sincere, but all the Grimm heard was how she didn't know what she had done to deserve his scorn.

" _You... Don't remember what you did?"_ The Alpha thought as his rage started to boil up to the surface " _Did my nearly dying mean THAT LITTLE TO YOU!"_

"After all" The girl continued, oblivious to the mans building fury " We both want to be huntsmen right, we should be able to get along right?"

With that the girl put on a forced smile and held a hand out to the Beowolf.

"Hello Fenrir, my name's Ruby, I hope we can become friends"

For just a fraction of a second there was calm.

And then Fenrir released his anger in an explosion of sound. With a thunderous roar he shoved Ruby across the other side of the room, claws and fangs on full display as the Grimm gave up on trying to keep his cool

"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He shouted at the red head. He just couldn't cope anymore, this girl was trying to act like everything was ok between them when all he could think about was how she nearly cut him in half with that scythe of hers, then chucked him off a cliff.

Ruby stared up at the livid form of the man, halfway stuck between looking hurt and scared. Never in her life had she seen someone display so much pure, fierce hatred. Even the bad guys she fought at the dust shop weeks ago, didn't come close to the levels of sheer aggression this guy was displaying.

For whatever reason, this guy wasn't just angry at Ruby, he flat out despised her. For a moment it looked as if his eyes changed from a deep blue, to a burning red. However the very next moment his eyes were blue again. Maybe it had just been a trick from the light from the sunset filtering in through the window behind him. Regardless Ruby eventually found her voice and spoke harshly to the leather wearing teen.

"Why!" She yelled "Why are you so angry at me, what did I do?!"

All this did however was just make the Grimm even more infuriated than before, his fists clenching and unclenching.

"You... Don't... even... remember!"

Fenrir's body started to shudder and tremble, his anger flowing through his entire body as all the while a darker, twisted version of his own voice whispered in his head

" **Kill her... make her pay... make her pay...MAKE HER PAY!"**

"Remember what?" the girl in red called out desperately but at this point, Fenrir could barely hear her.

With another furious yell, Fenrir grabbed a nearby cupboard door, ripped it clean off its hinges and snapped it in half like a twig.

For a while silence returned to the breakroom, the only sound being Fenrir's deep heavy panting and Ruby's small, near silent gasps. Finally, dropping the broken pieces of the door with a resounding clatter, and stalked away to the door, his coffee long forgotten. Before leaving the Grimm looked over his shoulder at the girl, anger still smouldering away in the navy pools.

"Leave me alone" he muttered quietly

And with that, Fenrir left without another word, leaving Ruby in a hurt and confused state.

She didn't feel like having coffee anymore either.

...

By the time Fenrir got back to his room, he still hadn't calmed down. Between the relentless questioning from Ozpin and the red haired girl, yet again trying to talk to him, his mind was a melting pot of negative energy. He wanted to shout, to scream, to tear apart the academy walls, to rip someone's throat out and let their blood splash across the stones. Anything to alleviate the mountain of rage that had festered inside him like a disease over the course of the week.

When he arrived at his room however, his anger momentarily gave way to confusion as he saw something new had been added to his humble abode. Tucked away in the far corner was a long, white oval with small pieces of metal sticking out from one side.

Getting a closer look at the strange thing, Fenrir saw the long oval object was actually some kind of bowl. The bowl was big enough for him to sit in comfortably and the metal appendages were actually taps, one marked with a red circle the other with a blue circle.

Inside of the strange bowl was a folded note, with only the letter 'O' on the front indicating who this note was supposed to be from. Shaking his head in agitation, Fenrir picked up the note and tossed it onto his desk. He'd read it tomorrow, right now he didn't feel like dealing with the strange headmaster, even if he wasn't technically there.

For several minutes, the Grimm paced his room frantically, trying to burn off the excess anger that still lingered in his mind. But no matter what he did he just couldn't calm down. Every second his mind would just replay his meeting with the silver eyed female and he'd be right back to snarling and growling in contempt.

" _Why couldn't she just take the hint the first time. I don't want to speak to her and I certainly don't want to be her friend!"_

After an hour of this, Fenrir wondered if it was advisable to just smash his head into a wall and knock himself out, because at this rate he would never cool down enough to got to sleep. Looking up at his singular window, the Alpha watched as the moon slowly started to peak out over the horizon, the sky's colours shifting from warm pinks and oranges to cool blues and purples. Suddenly Fenrir got an idea.

" _Perhaps some outside air will do me some good"_

With no other options, Fenrir leapt up to the window ledge, undid the latch and stepped out to breathe in the crisp night air. It was a good thing he looked down before he took a step forward, because if he hadn't he would have found himself falling to the ground very quickly. If he had to guess, Fenrir's room was about two to three stories above ground level. Looking up however revealed he was far from being the top floor.

The grey, concrete walls of the academy, rose high above him, reminding him just how huge this place actually was. Looking down at his sharpened nails, an idea slowly started to form in the Wolfs head. Back in his younger years, he had always found a quiet enjoyment in scaling the larger trees of whatever forest or jungle he was in at that moment. He was a natural born climber, and he remembered how it never failed to make him relaxed after a long day.

With that in mind, Fenrir jumped straight up into the air and at the peak of his ascent, rapidly sank his claws into the stone wall. After taking a second to make sure he had a solid purchase on the wall, Fenrir began to climb all the way up the academies side. In what felt like no time at all, Fenrir reached the top and landed on all fours on the roof of the building. Taking a quick breather, the Alpha assessed his hands to see if they had taken any damage from his sudden climb. His nails were covered in brick dust, and his fingertips had suffered a few minor cuts, but other than that his hands were completely fine.

With that, Fenrir looked out across the roof and saw with astonishment the veritable playground that lay before him. Multiple roofs with gaps to leap across, support beams and pillars to scale and swing from and at the centre of it all, a giant steel and concrete spire, towering above the rest of the campus and glowing with a faint, green light.

It was a parkour paradise, and Fenrir didn't waste anytime trying it out.

Shooting off like a rocket, Fenrir began leaping, diving and sprinting from rooftop to rooftop. The wind whistled in his ears and whipped at his hair as he clambered up and over the stone supports, his eyes focused and certain as he grabbed onto every new purchase. Finally Fenrir began to rapidly ascend the main tower, leaping across every rocky outcropping that jutted out from the great spire. Within a few minutes, the Grimm reached the top of the tower, Scarcely out of breath and feeling completely reenergized.

" _I always did wonder if I was supposed to be born a Beringel"_

This far up in the air, the entire campus lay spread out in front of Fenrir like a miniature toy set. The entire area was drenched in the silver light of the moon and as Fenrir hung on to the pole at the top of the tower, tiny gusts of cool spring air ruffled his clothes and tussled his midnight locks. Closing his eyes and breathing deeply through his nose, the Alpha once again allowed his mind to be carried away by the soothing sensations of the night air. Gradually with every intake of air, he felt his muscles finally relax, his shoulders releasing their tension and his head clear of his negative thoughts.

" _This... this is where I'm supposed to be. Outside in the free air."_

As Fenrir walked to the edge of the towers roof, that soft, strange voice, the very first voice he heard in this new body, spoke in his mind as soft as the breeze itself.

" _You were too hard on her"_

At first Fenrir had no idea what the voice was talking about, but then his mind was brought back to his encounter with Ruby, mere hours ago. Instantly the Grimm frowned as the memory replayed in his head. Looking back on it, perhaps he had overreacted a tad, at the very least it was unbecoming of a supposedly fearsome predator to lash out like a frightened pup. At the same time, every time he saw those silver eyes, his fight or flight instincts kicked in and with them all rational thought went out the window.

" _It makes no sense, but today just proved I'd be better off staying away from her."_

Strangely, Fenrir felt an odd discomfort in his chest as he resolved to distance himself from the girl. Shaking his head in an attempt to clear his clouded thoughts, Fenrir decided to try something a little more fast paced to clear his head. Spreading his arms out wide, Fenrir leaned forward slightly, and allowed the force of gravity to send him plummeting down to the tiled roofing below. The rush of air that whistled past him, brought his senses into sharp focus as the ground got closer and closer. At the last second, Fenrir twisted himself around in mid air, falling feet first onto the tiled roof.

The force of the impact was so great, the Alpha had to quickly transition into a roll to stop his knees from going through his head. As soon as he came out of the roll, the Grimm turned to look down at the small crater that had formed from his impact. Satisfied with the small hole that now occupied the small space, Fenrir turned to look back up at the moon. It goes without saying that Beowolves were far from being carbon copies of their regular Wolf counterparts, however they did share one thing in common

Howling was an effective form of stress relief.

So with that, Fenrir took in a great breath of air and let it out in a long, melancholy howl up to the shining celestial body.

...

All was quiet in the dorm room that housed the members of team RWBY. Weiss had insisted that it would be in their best interest to get an early night in preparation for tomorrow , after she made sure none of them had any homework left to complete of course.

The only sounds that could be heard in the darkened room were the loud obnoxious snores that were coming squarely from Yang's bed. Everyone else was silent, but that didn't mean they were all asleep.

Ruby tossed and turned in her bed, unable to get her mind to relax in any way. Just when she felt she was about to drift off into dreamland, her subconscious would start to replay the confrontation with the darkly dressed wolf Faunus from earlier and how he had almost literally tore her head off.

After the Faunus had left, Ruby quickly made her way back to her dorm and attempted to distract herself by trying to read a book she had borrowed from Blake. The keyword being try. When the others eventually returned, Ruby tactfully (In her mind at least) decided not to mention the previous encounter with the boy, for fear that her sister would just go charging out of the room and try to tear the boy in half.

She wasn't concerned for her safety, she was concerned for his.

As much as his sudden temper break had startled the young red head, Ruby still felt a desire to find out just what had happened in the boy's past to justify such behaviour.

" _The way he spoke, he talked like we have definitely met before, but I still have no idea where I've seen him before"_

Whilst Ruby continued to fidget uncomfortably in her bed, she failed to notice that she had accidently woken up one of her teammates until their face was directly in front of her own.

"Ruby!" Weiss whisper-yelled to the younger girl

Ruby had to very quickly cover her mouth to prevent a high pitched yelp from escaping from her lips and risk waking up the rest of her team

"Would you please stop squirming so much" The white haired girl continued snappishly "I'm trying to sleep"

"Sorry Weiss" Ruby mumbled half heartedly before turning round to face the wall. Normally Weiss would have left it at that, but she had briefly caught the distant and distracted look in her leaders eyes. Remembering her promise to be the best teammate possible, Weiss gently prodded the girl in the shoulder, regaining her leaders attention.

"What's wrong, somethings bothering you so what is it?"

"What, Watchu talkin 'bout" Ruby attempted to rather poorly play off how she was really feeling "Nothings bothering, I'm completely 100% A-OK"

Weiss didn't buy it for a second and just gave Ruby a blank stare to indicate as such. Eventually Ruby let out a sigh of defeat and straightened up in her bed to better address the heiress

"I met the wolf Faunus, Fenrir today, in the breakroom"

Weiss merely raised an eyebrow at her leaders brief statement "And?"

"And..." Ruby hesitated uncertainly before continuing "And he just exploded at me, not literally exploded like I did at you, but he yelled at me, snapped a cupboard door in half and told me to stay away from him"

This certainly struck Weiss as odd. It didn't sound anything like the quiet, almost withdrawn young man who had sheepishly asked for her help in studying on Friday. Nor did it sound like the engaged listener Blake had described after she returned from the library the same day. Even Yang said that outside of being a man of very few words, he seemed basically harmless.

"The weirdest part was" Ruby mumbled to herself "He acted like I should know who he was, he seemed angry that I didn't remember him"

"Have you met him before?" Weiss questioned

"No!" Ruby exclaimed "That's What's so weird, I don't ever remember seeing him before coming to Beacon"

At this Ruby paused to think to herself for a moment before mentioning one last detail to her teammate

"The strange thing is, a part of me feels like I have seen him before but I have no idea when or where, GAH! It's so frustrating!"

Whilst Ruby huffed into her pillow, Weiss deliberated in her head how best to handle this situation her leader had found herself in.

" I think" Weiss eventually said "You should just give him some space for now. Maybe you just remind him of someone he knew before coming here and perhaps he doesn't remember this person very fondly. In time, I'm sure he'll realise your not that person and he won't... flip out at you like he did today"

Ruby processed Weiss's words before turning to the girl with an appreciative smile.

"Your right, thanks Weiss"

"Your welcome" Weiss showed a small smile in return before quickly switching back to her more familiar lecturing voice "Now go to sleep!"

With that Weiss returned back to her bed and silence once again engulfed the room of four. This silence lasted for all of a few minutes before a low howling sound called out faintly from outside. Weiss had quickly fallen back to sleep, leaving the only person to actually hear the howl was Ruby. Sitting up, the girl reached over and very slowly, peeked out through her curtain to look out to the outside world.

Almost immediately her eyes were drawn to a dark sillohuetes leaping across the rooftops on the other side of the campus. Upon noticing the vague outline of a tail, Ruby immediately knew who it was and, sure enough, the shadowy figure stopped at a patch of moonlight allowing his figure to become fully visible to the girl.

It was indeed the wolf Faunus from earlier but that strangely enough wasn't the weirdest thing Ruby noticed about the situation. What struck her as odd was just how calm the boy looked as he stared up at the night sky, a dramatic difference from how he looked before in the breakroom. Now he looked downright serene as he essentially bathed under the pale light of the moon.

And then he let out another long howl, echoing throughout the whole academy and ringing in the silver eyed girls ears. How it didn't wake anyone else up was a mystery to the young leader as she continued to stare at the strange boy. A moment passed silently, before the Faunus turned away from Ruby and leapt away out of sight, to who knew where.

After making sure the Faunus had actually left, Ruby returned to the comfort of her covers and set a plan in motion in her mind.

" _I don't know why you dislike me so much, but by this time next week I will make sure your saying 'wow that Ruby girl is so unbelievably awesome and nothing like that other mean girl, and I wanna be her friend'"_

With her internal monologue finished, Ruby closed her eyes and finally drifted off to the land of dreams.

 **A/N: Ideally I wanted this out before the end of the month but I guess you can't win them all. So this chapter actually went through quite a few rewrites before I eventually decided on the one you got here. I just didn't know exactly what way that conversation in the breakroom between Ruby and Fenrir was gonna play out, and now I'm just sitting here hoping I made the right choice. Next chapter is going to be a bit more fast paced than the previous chapters and will involve our resident Doggo getting into a bunch of hair pulling situations. If you have any suggestions about what kind of high jinks Fenrir could get involved in, please leave them in your reviews, I'll be sure to credit you if I end up using it in the next chapter. As always I will see you later, take care.**


	11. Chapter 11 My time with humans

**A/N: I'd like to apologize profusely for not updating in a while. My laptop has been giving me nothing but grief for the past few weeks and I had to use my phone just to write this chapter up. Hopefully I can sort this whole issue out soon but, in the meantime, enjoy this chapter.**

 _Monday_

That morning, Fenrir woke up slightly earlier than normal and decided, with the extra time, to finally read the note Ozpin left him last night. Unfolding the piece of paper, Fenrir slowly read through the Headmasters note.

 _Mr Lupus, it is with some embarrassment I must confess that, in our haste to fit you with suitable accommodation, we completely forgot to give you a means to properly maintain your basic hygiene. To remedy this mistake, we have now fitted your room with a bath and shower. The blue tap will dispense cold water and the red tap will dispense hot water. I'm sure you can figure out the rest from there._

 _-Ozpin_

Looking towards the strange addition to his room, Fenrir regarded the 'Bath' with suspicion. On the one hand, he had managed just fine using the small water faucet in the corner of the room to wash himself, on the other hand he was curious to see what 'hot water' felt like.

The more he thought about it, hot water was the type of novelty that only a human could come up with. Deciding to indulge his curiosity, the Grimm stripped down out of his wrinkled outfit and sat in the egg white tub and looked at the metal taps.

" _Let's see..."_ He thought to himself " _He said the red one was the hot water"_

Quickly locating the red dot on the right tap, Fenrir turned the tap and awaited the results. Unfortunately, what the young Alpha had failed to realize was that the nozzle was set to have the water run through the showerhead and not the central tap. Meaning that scalding hot water descended from above and rained down on the unsuspecting Grimm's head.

The shock combined with the intensity of the hot water caused the Beowolf to shoot up and let out an embarrassingly high-pitched yelp of surprise. That wasn't the end of it however as Fenrir also didn't realize that when the tub got wet, it got slippery.

Meaning that in his haste to get away from the hot water raining down, his feet slipped, and he immediately fell back down and bashed the back of his skull on the lip of the tub. Safe to say, Fenrir's morning had been quite efficiently ruined in just a matter of seconds.

And as he stared up hatefully at the showerhead, he intended to make his displeasure very clear to the offending object, however petty it might seem

...

Ozpin had a niggling feeling that had been in the back of his head since he woke up, that he should probably check in on the academies resident Grimm and see how he was coping with the new addition to his living space.

Turning the corner at the bottom of the stairs leading to the Grimm's room however, revealed that Fenrir was already outside.

Dripping wet, completely nude and clutching the ripped off end of his shower tightly in his fist. Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the perplexing sight but straightened up once the Alpha finally noticed he was there.

The Grimm's previously moody expression only worsened when he saw the Headmaster and without a trace of shame, stalked up to the grey-haired man, deposited the torn piece of metal into his arms, then walked straight back to his room, slamming his door closed.

Ozpin meanwhile could only stare silently, belatedly thankful that Fenrir was on one of the lower floors, beneath the dorms, as he was certain most of the student body would have had a mass heart attack at the younger mans... brazen display.

" _Well"_ Ozpin thought to himself as he walked back the way he came, still holding onto the forsaken piece of plumbing " _At least he didn't break the whole thing... I hope"_

 _..._

Later in the day, Fenrir was still nursing a slight headache from his early morning endeavours, and the classes afterwards hadn't helped ease it down in any way. Mercifully the rest of the day passed by with no further incidents to add to Fenrir's ire.

At least until the very end of the day.

It was general studies with Professor Peach and the class itself passed with little incident, though it did allow Fenrir to conclude that of all human subjects, he hated math the most.

" _So… many... numbers"_ He thought sluggishly as he packed away his notebook and pen. After that lesson he was ready to just stumble back to his room and collapse on his bed. Before he could get out the door however, the young professor called out his name timidly.

"Uhmmm, Mr Lupus, Miss Xiao-Long would you mind helping me carry these Dust crates up to the teachers' lounge, there's a lot of them and they are quite fragile"

At their names being addressed, the Wolf Faunus and the Blonde bombshell looked at each other, a challenging glint already appearing in the female's eyes.

"Oh sure, right away Professor" Yang responded in an exaggerated tone as she sauntered over to an admittedly massive stack of wooden boxes, all full to the brim with several types of dust. Fenrir watched as the girl took six of the largest crates and placed them on her shoulders, three on each one.

With seemingly no effort, Yang spun round on her heels and turned to look Fenrir straight in the eye with an absurdly cocky grin.

"Well" She said in a deceivingly bored tone "You gonna help us out here wolf boy?"

The Grimm felt his eye twitch slightly in irritation, his competitive nature slowly bubbling to the surface. He had not forgotten how the Female had destroyed him during their little strength competition in the gym and while logic told him that the only reason the female had won was because of her aura, his pride was eager for a rematch.

Cracking his neck and stretching his shoulders, Fenrir stalked over to the boxes and picked up four crates. And then another four bringing his total up to eight. The sudden weight caused him to stagger slightly but he quickly righted himself and turned to face the blonde with a daring look of his own.

Some of the class had already left by this point, but those who had stayed stared on in awe as the two teens stared each other down. Those who were more aura sensitive were given even more of a surprise when they realised the midnight haired teen wasn't using his aura at all.

His own raw physical strength was the only thing keeping those boxes on his shoulders.

"Um… you don't have to take them all at once you two" Professor Peach called out warily, but her concerns were ignored as the two continued to challenge the other into pushing their bodies further.

"It's no worries prof" Yang proclaimed over her shoulder before immediately resuming eye contact with the taller boy "We've got this, haven't we Fenrir?"

Before the Grimm could respond, Yang quickly leaned down and with some very complex manoeuvres hoisted four more Dust crates onto her shoulders, bringing her up to ten. The Alpha's eyes widened as Yang now precariously balanced ten crates loaded full of dust on her shoulders and continued to act like it was nothing.

Turning to the ground, Fenrir was dismayed to find only two boxes remained, meaning he could only match Yang's number and not surpass it.

"I could take those two if you want Mr Lupus" Professor peach again tried to reach out to the bull headed Beowolf, trying to stop him before he hurt himself.

"No!" Fenrir responded sharply and clumsily brought the last two crates onto his shoulders. His legs started to shake and sweat was slowly building on his forehead from the exertion, but he refused to buckle, not in front of his blonde competitor.

Professor Peach meanwhile just looked between the two, unsure as too whether this was a good idea, before sighing quietly to herself and heading for the doorway.

"Ok follow me you two"

Yang simply spun on her heels again and walked briskly to catch up to the older woman, whilst Fenrir struggled with simply putting one foot in front of the other, really the only thing keeping him up was his stubborn pride as he laboriously walked over to the doorway. The rest of the class merely looking on in silence.

After what felt like hours to the Grimm but was only a few minutes in real time, Fenrir made it to the faculty lounge where Yang had already deposited her crates and stood waiting for him, frustratingly looking like she hadn't just lifted three times her own weight.

With a grunt of exertion, Fenrir disposed of the heavy crates and placed them on the ground next to Yang's pile. Professor peach promptly thanked the two teens for their assistance (And silently balked as she realized she hadn't carried anything) before sending them back on their way.

Once the human and Grimm arrived back on the ground floor, Yang turned to Fenrir with an ever-present grin.

"Well that was fun… ok I'm gonna go train in the gym for a bit, see you tomorrow wolfy"

Then with a casual wink and wave, Yang walked away leaving Fenrir standing in an empty hallway, gaping after her.

" _She's not human"_ His muscles still burned from the sudden physical activity, and she was talking about working out some more. Looking down to his open palm, panting lightly, Fenrir tightened his fist and grit his teeth in determination.

" _Next Saturday, I'll show her" He thought to himself "I'll push myself even harder than before, if I can't get my old body back, I can at least mould this one into one more suited to my stature."_

With that in mind, Fenrir turned to head back to Peaches classroom.

" _First I need to go get my bag"_

…

 _Tuesday_

It was late afternoon as Fenrir found himself back in the library, reading over another book, this one going into more detail about the Schnee dust company and its exploits over the past 60 odd years. An earlier conversation with Weiss had revealed to the Alpha that her family was rather well known in human society for being the largest sellers of Dust in all of Remnant and curious, Fenrir went to the library once classes finished and tried to see if he could find any more information on this company.

Along with finding out he wasn't fond of maths, he had also concluded that he enjoyed History, specifically human history. Something about it just grabbed his fascination at just how intricate and complex it all was. It reminded him that Humans didn't just spend all their time combating his kind, which made the Grimm look very one note by comparison.

Going to the library had turned out to be a successful endeavour as he had found quite a few books, both old and new that detailed the company's history and business practices throughout the years. Starting with a man named Nicholas Schnee and currently being run by a one Jacques Schnee (Formerly Gele) who if Fenrir had to guess, was Weiss's father. The company had gained a lot of notoriety over the decades but was also coming under a lot of scrutiny over the recent years, from allegations of cheap labour forces to questionable business partners It all looked iffy to the Grimm much like a lot of things these humans choose to do, it was none of his business.

" _What these Humans do in their spare time is up to them. Besides I'd love to see what good their money does them against a horde of my kin"_

Fenrir let out a sinister chuckle at the mental image of a rich businessman trying to use his Lien as a shield whilst a Beowolf came baring down on him, swatting the Lien aside and disembowelling the pathetic human, **staining the walls with his blood**.

Fenrir's mind could get a little dark sometimes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Fenrir spotted Blake walking past him. Looking up, the Grimm nodded to the bow wearing girl as she left the library, the girl noticed him and responded in kind before leaving the Wolf Faunus's line of sight.

" _She's quiet… I like her"_

With the number of humans at this school who seemed to get a sick kick out of talking his ears off, it was nice to simply share the silence with someone and know they wouldn't interrupt it unless prompted. Turning to look out the window, Fenrir noted the sun had sunk quite low in the sky since he had entered, and the night sky was steadily starting to create its canopy across the world and blanket Beacon in its majesty.

" _I've been here a while, I should probably call it a night and go back to my room"_

With that Fenrir took an old, chipped ruler he had acquired from his storage space/bedroom and used it as a makeshift bookmark in his current tome, placed it in his bag and headed for the exit. On the way however, the Alpha noticed the area where Blake had previously been sitting still had a singular book opened on the desk.

" _Odd"_ Fenrir puzzled " _Normally Blake takes her books with her, or puts them back on the shelf they came from"_

Walking over to the curiosity, shutting off the small desk lamp along the way, Fenrir picked up the thin novel and read its title.

" _Ninjas of… Love? What kind of book is this? And what are Ninjas?"_

Looking at the cover image showed an illustration of a human male, wearing all black garb that covered everything except his eyes and wielding a long, sharp sword. Figuring Blake must have left the book here by accident, Fenrir elected to return it to the girl, using his superior sense of smell to locate the now familiar scent of the four females known as team RWBY.

On the way, Fenrir continued to shoot sideways glances at the misplaced book in his hands. Part of him was telling him to just return the book and leave it at that, but again his curious nature wanted to know just what this book was about.

Eventually his curiosity won out.

…

Yang could only stare in confusion as her partner frantically searched their dorm room, constantly muttering under her breath and snapping her head back and forth.

"Uh… you lost something there Blake?"

At her question, the dark-haired girl froze comically upright on the spot, as if forgetting there were other people in the room with her. Noticing that all her teammates eyes were now upon her, Blake reluctantly answered her blonde friends query.

"I uh… lost one of my books"

Almost immediately Ruby leaped off her bed and ran up to her teammate.

"Ooh we'll help you look for it, where'd you last have it"

While still feeling slightly awkward, Blake couldn't help but smile slightly at her leader's eagerness to help others. Before any kind of searching could begin however, a loud thumping sound came from their door.

Walking over to open the door, Blake blinked in surprise at the sight of Fenrir towering over her, inches from her face. What was more concerning however was the look on his face, his usual scowl had elevated to a full-on grimace and he had a somewhat… haunted look in his eyes.

Bringing his hands up in front of him revealed the source of his ire and caused Blake to ascend to several different shades of pale. In his hand he held the book she had been searching for, and from the look in his eyes he had read one of her biggest guilty pleasures.

"Uh… Fenrir what you got there?" Yang had snuck up behind Blake and was now trying to peer over the girl's shoulder to see what it was the boy was holding. Without replying Fenrir shoved the book roughly into Blakes chest and speaking in a deathly quiet voice.

"This… is… FILTH"

With that the wolf Faunus turned and stalked back the way he came, Yang simply looking between the two before noticing the book now held in her teammates arms and finally connecting the dots in her head.

"Oh… Ohohoho" Yang suddenly grinned wickedly, leering over her partner who couldn't even hope to defend herself "And you said that book was just a 'simple romance book' you little liar you"

Whilst Yang began to mercilessly tease Blake about her now found out secret, Ruby peered out the team's doorway looking for the dark-haired teen. Just catching him at the end of the hallway, Ruby decided to try her luck again.

"Thanks for getting Blake's book back"

Almost instantly, Fenrir's shoulders visibly tensed up, his knuckles cracked, and his tail bristled. For a second, he stood perfectly still, not even turning to face Ruby, before carrying on the way he came stomping his feet all the while.

Ruby felt herself deflate at the boy's cold rejection of her gratitude. Even Weiss hadn't been this hostile towards her when they first met, and it just got her down the more she thought about it. Shaking her head, Ruby resolved herself once more to not give up on the boy and get him to see her for the kind person she was.

"Yang! Give me back my book!" Blake yelled from inside the dorm.

"Later, I want to see what got wolf boy to look like he'd seen a ghost"

First however, she had to stop her teammates from destroying their room again.

…

 _Wednesday_

" _You know I'm starting to think that moustache of his is actually alive"_

Fenrir was absentmindedly staring at Port's most prominent facial feature, as the man continued to drone on to the class about Grimm habitats and where certain types of Grimm were most commonly found across the world. The man's voice just had a habit of sending the Alpha's brain into a kind of trance.

"Now then, can any of you tell me where one might find Nevermore nests?"

Fenrir practically predicted in his head Weiss's hand shooting up in the air to answer the older man's question.

"Heavily forested areas, usually on the tallest and strongest trees"

"Correct, very well done as usual Miss Schnee"

Weiss smiled proudly to herself as she retook her seat, Fenrir merely rolling his eyes at the action. These humans took pride in the strangest of things.

"Their perches allow them to always know whenever a threat or potential prey is nearby, making it nearly impossible to sneak up on these winged demons"

Fenrir just watched on as the man explained to the class, his moustache twitching with every word.

"But Grimm who attack from the air are easy to find once you know where to look. What about ground-based Grimm like the Beowolves, where would you find those furry savages?"

Fenrir's ears perked up at this question. While he didn't appreciate being called a savage, he did know quite a bit about where his kin liked to dwell at night. Without really thinking, the Alpha's hand raised up into the air.

A deafening silence filled the room as people slowly realized the hand that had raised up was one that had never once spoken up in class before, even Weiss was shocked at the leather wearing teens sudden participation.

Professor Port arched an eyebrow in intrigue at the sight of the Grimm looking up at his own hand in confusion, as if he himself wasn't sure where his sudden involvement was coming from.

"Yes, Mr Lupus"

Fenrir looked between his hand and the older man, unsure as to what to do. Coughing slightly, Fenrir decided to just bite the bullet and answer the question.

"Caves… mostly in mountains or cliffs…" His voice still sounded as harsh as ever "Usually near… water…. And quite close to…. Any human…. Settlements"

Port nodded in satisfaction "That is correct Mr lupus, very well done"

Fenrir felt his face involuntarily twitch again as he felt a small spark of pride spread through his body. As Port continued with his lecture, Fenrir felt someone tap his shoulder. Looking to his right Fenrir spotted Weiss giving him an impressed look.

"You know your Grimm Fenrir"

The Alpha nodded at the white-haired girl, that same spark of accomplishment igniting in him again like a small flame. Turning back to his notebook, Fenrir shuffled closer to Weiss.

"I… could still… use a few… pointers"

Weiss happily opened her own notebook and moved closer to the wolf Faunus.

"I'd be more than happy to teach you a thing or two"

….

 _Thursday_

Fenrir was walking through the hallways of Beacon late in the afternoon. The sun casting the corridors in a burnt orange haze as the Beowolf read through a text detailing the reign of the last king of Vale and his involvement in the Great War. Fenrir would never admit it to anyone, but he couldn't help but slightly admire the old king.

" _Always leading his armies into battle, never backing down from a fight and always putting his people first. All virtues of a skilled warrior and a great Leader"_

As Fenrir walked through the steadily emptying hallways of Beacon, a slight tingling sensation started to run up the base of his spine.

Negative emotion. To a Grimm it was like a drop of blood in a shark tank. Shutting his eyes, he focused on finding the source of the sudden spike in negativity. Like radar pings Fenrir detected the source was several floors above him. Intrigue compelled him to find the source of the negative output, so with a snap of his book he turned to the nearest staircase and began to ascend towards the point of energy.

As he steadily grew closer and closer to the source, Fenrir's lupine ears were able to pick out tiny, muffled sounds coming from a nearby classroom. As he drew closer to the sounds, the Grimm was able to better sense the type of negative energy he was being drawn to. It was sadness, sadness and despair.

This was confirmed once the Grimm realized the muffled noises coming from inside the classroom were the sounds of someone crying. Caution caused the Alpha to hesitate in grabbing the doorknob, his mind telling him it was none of his business why some human was feeling depressed, but then he noticed the muffled cries sounded… familiar.

" _Wait… I know that voice"_

Previous caution thrown to the wind, Fenrir stepped inside the empty room and with his entrance the crying stopped almost immediately. It didn't take long in the vacant classroom, for Fenrir to find who he was looking for. Poking out from underneath one of the desks, two fluffy, brown ears were twitching in trepidation. Walking over to the desk and peering over the edge, The Grimm saw the rabbit Faunus who had helped him in the alleyway weeks ago.

With red, slightly swollen eyes and two thin, clear tracks running down her face.

The girl visibly jumped in fear at the sight of the wolf Faunus towering over her, the sunset blanketing his form in shadow. The man slowly walked over to join the girl hiding under the desk, and just continued to stare down at her in an awkward silence.

"Umm… Hello" Velvet murmured weakly

"…Hi..."

Even Fenrir had to wince at his pathetic attempts at communicating. For a time, the Grimm continued to just stare at the smaller girl as she silently sniffled, unsure of what to do in this situation.

" _Maybe I should just go"_

Before he could do that however, his eyes were drawn to the very subtle movements of the girl brushing her right ear gingerly with her hand. Looking closer showed some slight purple colouration around the base of that ear.

Bruises… as if someone had pulled roughly on the appendage.

"Your… hurt"

Velvet had been secretly hoping the taller teen wouldn't notice, she had come up here to be alone. But apparently the boy was more observant than he let on. Before Velvet could come up with an excuse that would satisfy the wolf Faunus, the boy in question was suddenly very close to her face and started smelling the base of her ear.

Almost instantly, Velvet felt her face heat up in awkward embarrassment as she could see practically every small line and imperfection on the man's angular face.

Fenrir meanwhile was searching for a trace of whoever had done this to the smaller girl, not paying any attention to the females steadily rising blood pressure. Eventually Fenrir detected a familiar scent that wasn't the females.

An image of a tall brunet with a cocky smirk appeared in his mind. The Grimm started to growl in anger and clutch the wooden desk with tightening fingers to the point where cracks started to form in the old wood.

"That… boy!"

Once Velvet realized the dark-haired man was no longer inches away from her face, she watched as the man slowly turned in place and lowered himself down to the floor, effectively sitting down next to the rabbit girl. Though due to his size, he couldn't fit as snugly as Velvet had done, leading to Velvet having to let out a slight chuckle at the sight of the man's knees folded up against his own head.

The smile quickly vanished when she heard the boys next question.

"What happened?"

Velvet again tried to fashion up some halfway decent excuse that would get her out of the situation, but the look on the boy's face told her that that wasn't going to work, and he wouldn't leave until she told him the truth.

"It was my fault" She said, sighing in resignation.

Fenrir cocked an eyebrow in confusion at this. Exactly in what way was this her fault

"You probably already know this, but Cardin doesn't exactly… like the Faunus and he likes to remind me of that whenever he sees me"

" _So that's his name, Cardin"_

As Velvet continued to talk, Fenrir could start to see tears slowly start to build up on the female's eyelids.

"Coco always tells me I should stand up to him, fight back. But every time he comes near I just freeze up and I feel helpless"

Velvet started to lower her head into her hands as Fenrir watched on, his frown gradually increasing.

"It's stupid, I'm a year above him but anytime someone like him comes around and makes fun of me just for being a Faunus, I feel a scared little girl. I hate feeling weak, because it means I'm useless. How am I supposed to be a huntress if I can't even defend myself"?

After she finished venting, the female stared crying as a fresh wave of tears fell down her cheeks like rain. Fenrir meanwhile just felt increasingly felt more awkward as he completely had no idea what to do. After a few minutes of the two silently sitting in the dim classroom, Velvet eventually regained control of herself and looked towards the wolf eared boy.

After some tense moments of debating in his head, the Alpha decided to simply say what was on his mind.

"Why… do you care?"

Velvet blinked perplexingly at the odd statement

"Pardon?"

Fenrir turned to face Velvet directly, his midnight blue irises piercing Velvet's own chocolate brown eyes as he spoke with a severe, yet surprisingly gentle tone.

"Why… do you care… about what he thinks? I don't…. He's just some idiot… you're here because… you want to fight… monsters… you… want to defend those… who can't defend themselves… so… you must be strong… otherwise… you would not be here. Your… ears… are not a weakness. You… not believing that you are strong… that is a weakness."

"But how do you know?" Velvet asked with slight desperation in her voice "How could you know if I'm strong, you barely know me."

The Grimm paused in thought for a moment before responding resolutely

"A… weak person… would have left me… in that alleyway"

With that, Fenrir rose back up to his feet before turning to offer the girl a clawed hand.

"What others… think of you does not matter… only what you…. Think of yourself"

Velvet gaped up at the man, before smiling lightly as she reached up to grasp the mans offered hand.

"You sound just like Coco" As the man stared at her in confusion, Velvet decided to elaborate "Oh… she's my team leader"

Fenrir nodded "Listen to her… she is right"

"Yeah, I will thanks"

Fenrir felt a slight warmth in his chest as the girl smiled up at him, her previous despair washed away. It was as he held on to the girl's smaller hand he realized something. He had never given the girl his 'name'.

"Fenrir… Fenrir Lupus" He said with a shake.

Velvet realized the black-haired boy was giving her his name, so she responded in kind.

"I'm Velvet Scarlatina, nice to meet you Fenrir, Again"

Velvet chuckled lightly at the end of her sentence, recalling the two's actual first meeting and how their positions had been reversed in this second meet up.

With introductions out of the way, the Wolf and the Rabbit exited the classroom, both feeling much lighter than when they had entered.

…..

 _Friday_

When Fenrir returned to his room that evening, he all but collapsed onto his mattress. Today's classes had been exceptionally brutal on his worn-out brain, to say nothing of his second sparring match which had miraculously been an even more dismal performance than his first fight.

This time around he had had to fight the red-headed girl he had gotten in a race with last week, Pyrrha if he remembered correctly. And if his fight with Weiss had been bad, this was ten times worse in the Grimm's opinion.

He hadn't gotten a single hit in and the fight itself barely lasted longer than a minute, yet his body felt like it had just been through hours of physical torture.

Unfortunately, before Fenrir could even begin to relax into the soft mattress, his lungs were rapidly filled up with thick dust that had been steadily building up over the past several days, and he began to enter a violent coughing fit.

Once he had recovered from his sudden choking attack, Fenrir sat up to look around his room and groaned slightly as he realized just how filthy he had allowed this space to become. Thick blankets of dust layered every shelf in the room and the air was thick and humid and dry. To say nothing of his school supplies that he had just haphazardly chucked on the floor the second he entered the room.

" _And I live in this? That I cannot allow, this place needs to be cleaned"_

With that thought in mind, the Alpha reluctantly rose back up from his bed and started looking over the shelves to see if there was anything that could help him clean up the place. Luck seemed to be on his side for once as on top of one of the shelving units was a half full can of polish and a dirty grey duster.

" _That'll do"_

With his tools in hand, Fenrir set about cleaning his small, dingy room.

….

Glynda had been tasked with monitoring the Grimm's room whilst Professor Ozpin tended to some other, academy related matters. Though the beast had yet not done anything that would warrant suspicion, Glynda still had her doubts about whether this monster could be 'rehabilitated' to their cause. Her opinion of the Grimm was only further soured when the headmaster told her about what transpired in the forest a week ago.

" _He views humanity as selfish and uncaring of the world around them, maybe before he starts criticising our species he should take a good, long look at his own kin"_

As she flicked on the monitor screen in her office, Glynda was treated to a rather peculiar sight. Hanging from the top of one of the shelves in his room, the Grimm was meticulously dusting and polishing his room. What surprised the older woman the most about this discovery was just how precise the Alpha Beowolf was being in his cleaning. If an object was in his way he would carefully pick it up, clean the area underneath it, and then put it back before quickly moving on to another area.

For a human, this would be standard, but for a Faunus that had up until a few weeks ago, been a monstrous wolf demon, it was not something the Blonde Huntress had been expecting.

As Glynda continued to watch the Grimm jump and leap across his room, she couldn't help but feel her fascination for Ozpins latest pet project rise slightly.

" _Well… he's not a complete savage at least. But it will still be a long time before I trust you Grimm, remember that"_

…

 _Saturday_

Fenrir was once again, back in the gym where he had first butted heads with the blonde brawler known as Yang. This time however the Grimm's rival was nowhere to be seen, leaving him working up a sweat on a weights machine by himself.

Not that he was alone in the room by any means. On the other end of the room, Fenrir could make out two individuals, one male the other female. The male he didn't recognize but strangely, he remembered the female next to him.

It was the pancake girl. The ginger haired girl he had helped back to her feet before… Ruby showed up and brought his good mood slamming down to the floor. She was currently on the floor doing pull ups, animatedly talking with the male who was in some sort of weird stretched out pose in the air, responding minimally to the girl next to him.

Figuring he was due for a short break, Fenrir slowly lowered the arm bars back down to their resting position with a small grunt of exertion and strode over to the two. Getting a closer look at the male, Fenrir noted his build was much leaner than a good majority of the boys at the school, who all seemed to be built like brick houses. He also had the longest hair he had ever seen on any male human so far, done up at the back in a low ponytail, with a single magenta strip running down the right side of his head.

At his approach, the small female bolted upright and smiled brightly at the towering shadow above her.

"Hello there, wolf boy"

Fenrir instantly grimaced at that stupid nickname.

" _Obviously one of Yang's friends"_

Shaking his head, Fenrir realized he had already walked up to these people, might as well attempt to socialize with them.

"…Hey" He responded dumbly

" _Great start idiot"_

Before Fenrir could further curse his own stupidity, Nora was now standing upright and despite being smaller than him, was now inches away from the Grimm's face.

"So" She said in a sly tone "Yang tells me your pretty strong"

Fenrir stumbled back slightly when he realized his personal space was being invaded. But before he could even respond to the girl's question, she darted away like a small, pink bullet and within seconds, was back with a small table that she then placed in-between the two of them. With a half daring, half manic look in her eye, the girl propped up her right elbow on the wooden table and lowered her stance to a more solid structure.

"Care to prove it?"

For a moment, the Alpha was silent simply because he needed a minute to process what he had just seen. A female half his height had just displayed an incredible burst of both speed and strength, and now seemed to be challenging him to an arm wrestle. Turning to look at her male partner, Fenrir sent him a questioning look to which the other boy merely responded with a quiet shrug of his shoulders.

"It's best to just go with what she says" The magenta eyed boy said quietly to the wolf Faunus.

Seeing nothing better to do, and the Blonde nowhere in sight, Fenrir rolled his shoulders in their sockets and sighed quietly to himself as he hunkered down and locked his hand with the females. He had just seen the girl lift a table with one arm, so he wasn't about to underestimate her strength like a moron. With that in mind, Fenrir locked eyes with the girl and felt his muscles coil and tighten in preparation for what was to come.

Nora turned to Ren quickly.

"Ren, if you'd be so kind"

The Alpha just about caught the small sigh from the still meditating boy before he calmly said aloud.

"Begin!"

Instantly Fenrir almost felt his arm being thrown backwards, rapidly locking his elbow and pushing back with all his strength just to not be instantly K. O'ed by the smaller girl. For a short time, the two were locked in a stale mate, Fenrir's brow covered in sweat as he pushed and pushed against the girl's hand as hard as he could. He even had to put his other hand on the tables side to give himself more leverage, applying so much pressure that the wood splintered and cracked beneath his fingers.

Unbeknownst to the Beowolf, Nora was looking at the Grimm with an almost impressed look.

" _Huh… Yang was right, he's not using his aura. Guy's got some biceps alright"_

A few seconds later, Fenrir felt his strength start to give, his arm start to buckle and then, with an almighty shove from Nora, was sent flying through the air to crash into the wall.

"AAARRGHHH!"

Whilst the Grimm sat dazed on the floor, Nora did a little victory dance that Ren smiled slightly at.

"You know Fenrir, you probably shouldn't come to the gym, for your own sake"

Turning to face the new voice in the room, Fenrir winced as he realized Yang had just witnessed his second impromptu flying lesson.

"I mean that twice now you've crashed into a wall, it can't be good for your back"

The Blondes tone was full of sarcasm and her face showed just how much amusement she was getting from the boy's expense. Nevertheless, she offered the boy a hand up which he gratefully accepted.

"Hey Yang!" Nora yelled out, bounding towards the pair, fire in her eyes as she revelled in the high of her victory "Fancy settling which one of us is the strongest once and for all?"

"You said that last time Nora" Ren called out, but his words fell on deaf ears as Yang turned to meet the challenging look head on.

"Sure, but I'll warn you Nora, I can be a real **armful** as an opponent"

Despite his defeat still burning away in his mind, Fenrir couldn't help but guffaw loudly at another one of Yang's puns. As if remembering he was there, Yang looked behind her shoulders towards the dark-haired boy.

"How about you Fenrir, fancy losing a second time"

These words caused a fire to ignite in the Wolfs core as he straightened up fully and walked up between the two women and spoke in a low, challenging voice.

"I'll… take you both on"

….

 _Sunday_

The Grimm swung over a stone Parapet and leaped up towards the tiled roof on top of one of Beacons many towers. It was night time again and once more, Fenrir was partaking in what was quickly becoming one of his favourite night time activities, leaping, bounding and somersaulting over the roofs and towers of the academy.

Something about the activity just felt incredibly liberating to him. The rush of the wind combined with the cool chill of the night left him feeling refreshed and relaxed.

Reaching the top of the tower, the Alpha took a moment to just appreciate the picturesque view that lay sprawled out before him. Truly it was a view he didn't think he would ever get tired of.

Plus, the moon at this height made for a great night-light.

Lying down on the sloped roof, Fenrir brought out his book on ancient fairy tales and myths, found the page with his bookmark (A straw) and after angling the book so it caught the lunar rays just right, began to settle down for a night of reading out among the stars.

As he slowly worked his way through the pages however, that same niggling voice in the back of his head called out in the back of his brain.

" _You know what would make all this even better, if you just talked to Ruby and not run away"_

Fenrir ceased the voices persistence with a rough shake of his head. He didn't know if all humans had to deal with these little voices in the back of their head, but he was sure getting sick of his.

He didn't want to deal with Ruby Rose and that was the end of it. It was better for both if he stayed away from the silver eyed girl during his time here.

With his thoughts solidified, Fenrir returned to reading his book, the ambience of the night and its wonders, allowing his troubles to melt away.

Unfortunately for the Grimm, he had no idea his troubles had only just begun.

 **A/N: So good news I now have a new laptop and what happened this February will never happen again. This chapter essentially serves as a breather and to show you what Fenrir's life is like in general at beacon academy. Next chapter is where things will start to really pick up so look forward to that.**


	12. Chapter 12: Rage of the beast pt1

**A/N: Here we go. Also thank you to all 200 of my followers, you guys make my day every day.**

"AARRRGGHHH!"

Fenrir was yet again sent spiralling through the air just to crash down hard onto the floor. With shaking legs, the Grimm got back to his feet and turned to face his opponent. Above him, he could see the holographic screen displaying his aura level.

It was already nearly empty.

It was the Alpha's third bout in the sparring ring in as many weeks, and from the looks of things this fight would end just as the others had done. This time the Wolf's opponent was the quiet male he had met last Saturday alongside Nora (Ren was his name if he remembered correctly). Fenrir had observed this male fight in the ring before, but he was in no way prepared for the onslaught that he had so far endured.

Ren's speed and agility far exceeded his own, the thin male able to zip around the Grimm like a mouse circling a lumbering Rhino. On top of that, like all the other humans, Ren had a weapon whereas Fenrir could only rely on his fists. The male's weapons were two green pistols with curved blades attached to the bottom and while the bullets didn't do a whole lot of damage to Fenrir's aura, they were certainly annoying, and the Alpha's irritation only caused him to get sloppier as the fight progressed.

And that short-sightedness was promptly exploited by the Grimm's opponent who used the openings to attack with his blades, which were much more painful and much more aura consuming.

Shaking his head to clear the dizziness, Fenrir observed his opponent from across the arena. The long-haired boy's stance gave no openings for the Grimm to take advantage of and his eyes were trained on the wolf Faunus at all times.

The Grimm seethed as he realized that this was another fight he was going to lose, another blow to his pride that this school just seemed intent on destroying. It was beginning to get tiresome for the Beowolf just how often these humans kept one-upping him.

" _Still"_ He thought as he clenched his fists in rage " _I'll be damned if he thinks I'm going to just roll over and give up for him!"_

With a roar of defiance, Fenrir charged towards Ren intent on landing at least one blow on the Magenta-eyed boy.

Ren was expecting the careless attack and as the larger teen drew near, he leapt above the charging Faunus and peppered him with bullets from above. Fenrir stopped just before he hit the wall and grimaced in pain as the dust rounds were absorbed by his steadily depleting aura. Turning back to face his opponent, Fenrir wasted no time and brought his leg up in an attempt to roundhouse kick Ren in the face.

A kick that was swiftly ducked under by the smaller male with ease. The continuous momentum from the kick threw the Grimm off-balance and he stumbled to the side. This left his back once again exposed to Ren, who wasted no time in capitalizing on his opponent's misstep, showering him with another round of bullets and then following that up with several slashes from Stormflowers blades.

Fenrir recoiled in pain from every blow struck. In a last-ditch effort to cease the attack, he swung his arm behind him in a wide arc. Miraculously the blow struck true this time, equalling into a vicious backhand to the face that sent Ren staggering backwards.

Forcing his aching muscles to move, Fenrir stood back up and kicked Ren squarely in the chest, punting him across the sparring ring. As Ren rolled along the floor, the Alpha sprinted after him and leapt high up into the air, intending to bring both arms down on the smaller male and bury him into the ground.

As he reached the apex of his jump however, Fenrir failed to notice the shimmering blue glow that started to envelop his arms. Ren however did take note of his opponent's sky blue, aura covered limbs as they descended towards him, and nimbly rolled out of the way of the impact zone.

The resulting shockwaves from the blast however, were so mighty that they sent Ren skittering along the area floor as large chunks of concrete were flung up into the air and the entire classroom was blinded by an intense, cobalt light.

Those closest to the arena also felt strangely cold for some reason.

Fenrir lay gasping for air in the newly formed crater, marvelling at the sight of his now brightly glowing arms and the large, frost covered imprint's he had left in the ground from his fists.

This fascination however was quickly replaced with panic as Fenrir's pulse started to quicken, his chest started to tighten, and his skull started to feel like it was being crushed in-between a Deathstalkers pincers.

" _No… Not again!"_ Fenrir screamed inside his head as once again, his arms started to shake and vibrate at unnatural speeds, blue energy arcing and crackling off his body in fits and bursts " _WHATS HAPPENING… DUST HELP ME!"_

Before the Grimm could even attempt to regain control of his body, Ren reappeared through the smoke and swiftly delivered an aura charged palm strike to Fenrir's temple. The resulting burst of Magenta coloured energy sent the dazed Grimm pinwheeling through the air and slamming hard into the arena wall.

And just like that the match was over.

Fenrir groaned on the ground, his body completely spent and a migraine slowly building at the back of his skull. Looking to his arms, the Beowolf's eyes shot open in shock as he saw the blue energy around his arms, steadily evaporate into the air. He then realized his hands had stopped shaking.

The following announcement from Glynda however, quickly made the Grimm figure out why his sudden body spasms had miraculously stopped.

"And the match goes to Lie Ren" Glynda called out as she walked into the middle of the arena, clipboard in hand. "Very well-done Mr Ren, but keep in mind that just because you have your opponent in a corner, does not mean that they are completely at your mercy, always be ready for any sudden, surprise attacks"

Ren, having already stowed his weapons back inside his sleeves, nodded silently towards the blonde huntress. Glynda then turned to face Fenrir as he stood shakily back to his feet.

"As for you Mr Lupus" her tone just as clipped and icy as always whenever she addressed the wolf Faunus "Might I suggest rethinking your attack strategies to something other than blindly rushing forward and hoping to land a strike"

Fenrir growled lowly to himself, looking up at the giant glass monitor that showed him his completely depleted aura, not even a sliver of red left in the bar. With the match over, the two combatants walked out of the arena as Glynda looked to her scroll to determine who would be fighting in the next match. Fenrir kept his head low the whole time, his anger steadily boiling away under the surface.

Unbeknownst to the Grimm, Ruby looked at the Faunus with concern written across her face. She had been one of the people closest to the arena when the Alpha had slammed into the ground and she could still feel slight shivers run through her body from the sudden blast of frigid air. In that moment Ruby had seen the leather wearing boy's aura envelop him. It was large, but wild, untamed sparking off him in giant blue bolts of energy.

And she wasn't entirely sure but, she could have sworn she could see the Faunus spasming on the ground in what looked like pain.

" _It looked like he couldn't control his own aura"_ Ruby frowned in concern, her mind frantically going over what she had just seen. The boy was strong, that much was certain, but it seemed like he just couldn't get a grip on his own power.

All at once a lightbulb went off inside Ruby's head as an opportunity to get on the Wolf's good side presented itself to her.

" _I know, maybe I can help him with controlling his aura. That'll definitely get him to like me… or at least stop hating me"_

Whilst Ruby started going through the finer details of her plan in her head, Fenrir sat at the back of the class, rubbing his temple in irritation as his headache only worsened.

And a tiny puff of black smoke seeped out from the corner of his lips.

…

" _I don't feel good"_

The rest of professor Goodwitch's class passed at an agonizingly slow pace in the Grimm's opinion. Ever since his match against Ren, the Alpha had felt the migraine in his head steadily worsen with every passing minute. This in turn fuelled his gradually rising ire, which just fed into his headache even more.

A vicious cycle to be sure.

It got to the point where the second class was dismissed, Fenrir was the first out the door. He didn't even want to go to the cafeteria it was that bad.

" _Maybe if I just go back to my room and rest for a few minutes, I'll feel better"_

As Fenrir turned to walk back to his safe place however, a distinctly female voice called out to him that made him freeze in place.

"Hey Fenrir, wait up!"

" _Oh, for the love of Oum, not her, not now!"_

Unfortunately for the Grimm, the lunchtime crowd had already amassed in the narrow hallway, making a hasty retreat impossible for the large Faunus. For the much smaller Ruby however, making her way over to the Alpha was a breeze with a few precise uses of her semblance. In an instant, the silver eyed girl was directly in front of the Grimm, blocking his escape in a flurry of rose petals.

"Hey there" Ruby called out cheerfully, oblivious to the mortified look on the teens face as he watched the rose petals float through the air. "just thought I'd come and say hi and hit you with an idea I had during class"

Fenrir barely even noticed the girl in front of him as he watched the red petals float lazily in the air, his mind flashing with unpleasant memories.

The pain of a giant scythe, the agony of his body being twisted and reformed into something different.

The steely determined gaze of a pair of molten silver orbs.

"So, I couldn't help but notice you were having some trouble with your aura during your fight with Ren" Ruby carried on, unaware of the mans steadily rising panic. From the side however, Weiss curious of where her partner had run off to, watched from the side cautiously as she took note of the mans steadily rising breathing and how his skin seemed to be getting alarmingly paler.

"Well, if you want, I could help you get a better control over your aura so you're not getting your but kicked so quickly in the ring, whaddya say?"

Finally, Fenrir took notice of the fact that the red-headed girl was speaking to him, but when he processed her words, his irritation quickly shifted to anger.

" _She beats me in combat, nearly kills me, transforms my body into this weak, feeble form, and now has the NERVE to try and teach me how to fight!"_

Ruby was about to carry on explaining to the Grimm how she intended to assist him but was then rudely cut off by the Alpha.

"No" He growled out through gritted teeth, stopping the smaller girl right in her tracks.

"Huh?"

"I… don't need your help… go away!"

Fenrir hoped that would be the end of it as he roughly shoved past his silver-eyed tormentor, his headache now elevated to the point where his brain felt like it was in a vice.

He only made it a few steps however when a hand firmly grabbed his sleeve and was nearly yanked backwards.

"Now wait just a minute here!" a new voice called out briskly.

Turning around revealed the newcomer in the unwanted conversation was none other than Weiss. Fenrir was about to speak up but was cut off yet again by the heiress.

"All Ruby was trying to do was give you some help, which quite frankly you need if your performance in the area is anything to go on, and you respond by shoving it back in her face for no reason"

Weiss had told Ruby to be patient with the wolf Faunus, rationalizing that maybe Ruby just reminded him of someone unsavoury from his past, but his behaviour just now clearly went beyond that, and now even she was running out of patience for the larger man.

Ruby meanwhile just looked on awkwardly, pointer fingers tapping against each other as they always did whenever she was embarrassed.

"Weiss it's ok, he said he doesn't want my help"

"No Ruby it's not ok. With everyone else he's been at least somewhat civil, but with you it's almost as if he can't stand the sight of you. And I want to know why?"

Fenrir was starting to see red as he looked down at the small, **HUMAN** hand clutching onto his sleeve roughly.

"Let go of me" he whispered in barely contained fury

"No" Weiss responded sharply, unaware of the fact that they're steadily heating up argument was attracting the attention of some of the students in the hallway including the other two members of team RWBY.

"You either explain why you have a grudge against Ruby, or you can forget about getting assistance from me or anyone else here!"

Fenrir's head was pounding furiously now, and the corners of his vision were starting to turn cloudy.

" _Is she_ _ **Threatening**_ _ME! This_ _ **PATHETIC MISERABLE PILE OF DUSTLING TRASH!**_ _WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS."?_

"Well, lets hear it" Weiss carried on, unaware of Fenrir's rapidly deteriorating mental state. Ruby however was starting to see tiny, thin black trails of smoke started to dribble out of the corners of the boy's bared teeth.

And now she could definitely see Fenrir's deep blue eyes occasionally flash to a burning crimson.

"It… is….. none… of your CONCERN!" Fenrir barely got the statement out before his head suddenly felt a spike of pain lance through the base of his skull.

"Ruby is my team mate so yes, it is my concern. Why do you dislike her so much, answer me!"

Fenrir suddenly yanked Weiss's hand off his arm and gripped his head in agony, his heartrate accelerating and his limbs starting to heat up as the blood raced through his body.

By this point everyone in the hallway was watching the confrontation taking place between the Schnee heiress and the mysterious wolf Faunus.

And all present would remember what happened next till their dying day.

Fenrir started violently thrashing, yanking on his own hair in pain as his body started to twist and writhe in pain. His growls steadily grew lower and more guttural and then with a thunderous roar he turned and smashed his fist into the nearby stone wall.

Gigantic cracks spiderwebbed out from the impact zone, as people started to back away from the Faunus in alarm, even Weiss seemed apprehensive about what was going on.

Now everyone could see the small black vapour lines rising out from across Fenrir's body as his last conscious thought ran loudly in his head.

" _The only solution I can think of is if we completely depleted your aura"_

Those were the words Ozpin had spoken to him in the cave where he had first become Fenrir Lupus, and now the mans theory had been proven correct.

Fenrir's aura was completely extinguished.

And he was boiling over with rage and hatred.

Slowly the Grimm turned back to face Ruby and Weiss, but when he opened his eyes, the two huntresses in training backed away in horror

As they stared into a pair of dark red, burning eyes with blackened sclera and a voice that was almost inhuman snarled out at them.

" **YOU…DID…THIS…TO ME!"**

And then before anyone could stop him, Fenrir reached up with ghostly pale hands to his own face, and then started to violently tear the skin from his own face off.

Blood spewed out from the freshly made wounds, as the beast roared in agony as the white flesh was roughly torn away from his own face, revealing the dark red muscle and tissue underneath. Ruby's skin crawled with revulsion and terror as the Grimm ripped the last few scraps of skin away from his face.

For a moment there was silence

And then the Grimm turned to look up towards Ruby, with a haunting, crazed grin taken straight from the pages of a horror story as blood dripped down through his fanged teeth.

And then he exploded in a jet-black plume of smoke and ash.

Those closest to the Grimm were suddenly shoved backwards from the violent gusts of wind as the hallway was enveloped in inky blackness. Ruby's leader instincts kicked in as she brought Weiss behind her, ready to protect her teammate from whatever stepped out of the black column of smoke that had once been Fenrir Lupus.

The silver-eyed girl could just barely make out the sillohuete of the boy as he stood motionlessly in the centre of the smoke storm.

However, she could see the hellish red eyes as they glared at her through the fog, burning like hot coals against an oil slick.

And then the body started to grow rapidly, the shoulders broadened, the legs shifted in on themselves, the arms lengthened out all the way down to the floor.

And the face shifted to form a muzzle and snout.

And then all at once the black smoke vanished and in its place was something every human learned to fear from the time they were children.

Charcoal black fur

Bone white armour and spikes

Fangs as long and sharp as daggers

Claws as deadly as spears

And eyes the colour of flames, burning with hate and malice

The enemy of all humankind, stood before them

A Grimm had arrived at Beacon academy.

Immediately panic and pandemonium swept through the corridor as the younger students dashed away in fear, some screaming in terror, while the older students rapidly went to grab their scrolls to call for their weapons.

Team RWBY on the other hand could only stare on in shock at the sight of the monster that, up until a few seconds ago had just been a fellow classmate of theirs.

But now Fenrir Lupus was gone, and only a very angry Alpha Beowolf remained in his place.

" **RROOAAARRRGGGHHH!"**

Letting loose with an ear shattering roar of hatred, the Beowolf charged towards the four females, claws extended with the intention to slice through the Dustling's like butter. Quickly the four nimbly dodged the outstretched paws of the Grimm as it slashed at the ground where they had once stood.

Ruby's head was a chaotic mess of thoughts as she stared at the giant Wolf monster that towered over the group.

" _Fenrir's… a Grimm? What… but, but how?!"_

As the Beowolf turned to face the redhead however, Ruby noticed a unique feature on this Grimm that was the final piece needed for Ruby to finally put the puzzle together.

A long red scar that ran along the beast's chest, stopping just above the Grimm's heart.

All at once a flash of memories assaulted the confused would be huntress.

Her sister in the clutches of the monstrous Grimm, Crescent Rose slicing through the Grimm's chest just in time and then punting the wolf off the side of a deep, dark cliffside.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out in alarm as she rushed towards the stunned girl.

Ruby was so engrossed in her own recollection that she failed to notice the Beowolf once again lunge at her, fangs gleaming like polished steel as they prepared to sink themselves into her neck.

Mercifully Weiss was able to pull Ruby out of the way of the imminent danger.

This second miss just caused the Alpha's rage to further be increased as it darted its head around in a rabid frenzy, drool and spittle flying from its maw. Quickly the Grimm rounded back on to the silver eyed girl as she backed away slowly from the enraged beast.

Weiss darted across to the area where Fenrir had struck the wall earlier and yanked out a loose brick before hurling it towards the Alpha, the stone bouncing off the Grimm's ivory coloured mask.

"Hey, you want me? Come and get me Grimm!"

The beast howled in rage at the white-haired girl as she furiously sprinted away from the scene, using her Glyphs to give her an extra burst of speed as the beast bounded after her.

As Ruby got back up to her feet, she was immediately swarmed by her older sister

"Ruby are you ok?" Yang said, worry written all over her face

Ruby took a moment to steady her breathing before turning to address the rest of her team, painfully aware of the Beowolf's roars echoing through the now deserted hallway they were standing in.

"I'm fine, Blake go get professor Goodwitch, let her know what happened"

Blake nodded before sprinting down the opposite end of the corridor, towards the sparring arena. Ruby then turned toward Yang, already in the process of pulling out her own scroll to call for Ember Celica.

"Yang, we need to go help Weiss and get… the Grimm away from the school."

With their plan in motion, the two sisters raced after their white-haired teammate, Ruby making sure to call for Crescent Rose's assistance on the way

…

Ozpin was sitting quietly in his study when the alarm pinged from his scroll, showing he had a message from Glynda.

When he opened his scroll to read the message however, his expression darkened as the worst-case scenario had just become a reality

 _The Grimm has changed back, he's running loose in the school._

" _Oh no"_

All at once, Ozpin was striding quickly out through his office door, cane in hand as he rapidly descended the stairs to find the young Alpha before he caused any kind of irreparable damage.

To either the school, the students, or himself.

 **A/N: Welp, the cats out of the bag now. Or should I say 'wolf' eh? Ok in all seriousness, I have some more aesthetics to go with the Jacket, Gloves and hairstyle of Fenrir that I showed in chapter 6/7. As always leave a review of your thought and I will see you in the next chapter.**

 **. /itm/FRUIT-OF-THE-LOOM-SWEATSHIRT-JUMPER-PLAIN-GREY-S-XXL-/330402912140**

 **men/navy-skinny-jeans/shop/dark-washed-indigo-stretch-skinny-fit-jeans-183076#**

 **Fila-Shifter-Synthetic-Hiking-Boots/dp/B0188OZT3W**


	13. Chapter 13 Rage of the beast pt2

**A/N: Just a little something for those who are interested, I had Rob Zombie's Dragula on loop whilst I wrote this chapter so yeah, do with that what you will. Enjoy part 2.**

Weiss ran full pelt down the long hallways of Beacon, all too aware of the giant Beowolf barrelling after her a few feet behind her. Any students still milling about in the hall quickly scattered at the sight of the Schnee heiress being hounded by a giant, black behemoth of a Grimm close behind her.

The Alpha was unceasing in its pursuit of the white-haired female, barely stopping to breathe its desire for bloodshed was that strong. Slowly the Grimm inched closer to his prey, his hot breath crawling up Weiss's neck.

Just at the last second however, Weiss sharply turned left at an intersection, using another Glyph to quickly change direction without losing any forward momentum. The Grimm wasn't so lucky and ended up crashing headfirst into a brick wall. Shaking its head roughly, the Alpha rounded back onto his target, it's eyes alight with fury.

Weiss wasn't just aimlessly running, she was attempting to lead the enraged Grimm outside, in the open away from the school so that way he would do less damage. So, once she was a sufficient distance away from the Alpha Beowolf, she turned back to wait for the monster to gather its bearings.

As the Grimm locked eyes with the young heiress, Weiss tried to search for any sign of the moody Teen underneath the bone white mask that covered the Grimm's face.

But there was nothing there, just rage and hatred that was typical of the blight of humanity.

With a hellish roar, the Grimm resumed it's chase and Weiss quickly took off down the hallway. As the Grimm bounded after its quarry, memories started to resurface in its blackened haze of a subconscious.

" _ **I…KNOW…THIS…PLACE"**_

Eventually the Grimm realised that its prey was attempting to lead it outside, and that no matter how fast he ran, he could not catch the disgusting Dustling who always managed to stay just out of his reach.

After turning another sharp bend, The Grimm finally pieced together where exactly it was in the building.

And knew that there was a short cut nearby that would allow him to get the drop on his hunt.

So as quietly as it could, the beast broke off from its chase, and launched itself out a nearby window to begin scaling the side of the human foundation and sprint along the rooftops of Beacon.

As the monster continued to pursue its prey from above, it licked its lips at the thought of sinking its fangs into the brat's weak flesh and tasting her blood.

…..

Ozpin walked purposefully through the emptying halls of his academy, his scroll locked onto Fenrir's current location in the school.

It appeared Miss Schnee had the right idea, leading the confused Grimm away from the school grounds, away from any potential victims of his rampage.

But this did place a target on the girl's head, meaning Ozpin still had to hurry if he wanted this to end without bloodshed.

" _Just when I thought we were making actual progress"_ Ozpin couldn't help but think disdainfully.

He had already contacted Glynda and instructed her and Peter to prepare the pacification devices that had been built specifically for the Grimm just in case of such an eventuality and bring them to the academy entrance.

"Professor Ozpin!" A female voice yelled out from behind "Wait up!"

Looking behind his shoulder for but a moment, the headmaster saw Miss Rose and Miss Xiao-long running to catch up with him, weapons already in hand and apprehension written across their faces.

"Professor" Ruby gasped out once she caught up to the headmaster "It's Fenrir…he… he just"

"Turned into a Grimm I know"

At this Yang's eyes nearly popped out of her skull

"Wait you knew he was a Grimm? Then why would you…"

"I promise Miss Xiao-Long, I will explain to you in due time but first we have to stop Mr Lupus from doing any lasting damage to either the school or himself"

With a tone of finality, Ozpin carried on, almost breaking out into a jog in his haste to get to the school gates. The two sisters, seeing little else in the way of options, simply followed their headmaster.

Ruby's mind was still a myriad of conflicting emotions, and while Ozpin said he would explain later, she felt the need to ask him something right now.

"He said it's my fault he's like this"

Ozpin glanced at the small girl from the side of his glasses, before looking forward, a deep frown on his face.

"In a way Miss Rose, he's right"

…

" _No no no, where did he go! He was right behind me"_

As Weiss continued to make her way towards the exit of the main building, she eventually became aware of the fact that she could no longer feel the Beowolf's breath on her back. Turning to look back revealed that the Grimm was nowhere in sight.

Slowing down, Weiss feared that maybe the beast had given up and had gone to look for easier prey.

 **RRROOOARARRRRGGHHHH!**

But then that theory was promptly ruined when the Grimm came crashing in through a nearby window and before Weiss could even hope to react, punched the girl square in the face. The white-haired girl was sent sailing through the air, her aura being the only thing that stopped her head from being turned into a bloody smear decorating the walls.

Struggling back to her feet, Weiss watched helplessly as the Grimm towered over her, it's mask crunched up in pure rage as it glared down hatefully at her. Weiss tried to crawl away, her aura too drained both from the blow and excessive use of her Glyphs to attempt to fight, but the Grimm trapped her in place with its massive paws, holding her down by her arms. The Grimm growled in victory as its fangs extended and drool dribbled from its maw as it prepared to devour her.

"HEADS UP!"

Before either the heiress or the Grimm could react, an explosive, pink rocket collided into the Grimm's back and sent the beast stumbling away in a cloud of explosive dust, howling in pain all the while. Getting back to her feet, Weiss saw Nora and Ren running towards the battlefield, weapons locked onto the raging monster as it spun round to face the new opponents.

A normal Beowolf would have been reduced to fleshy mush from just a single round of Nora's hammer/rocket launcher, but an Alpha's hide was tough, tougher than the strongest armour and so the Grimm suffered only minor singes to its fur.

That didn't mean it was any less livid from the sudden interruption. Without pause, Nora let loose with another volley of explosive shells, driving the Alpha backwards with every hit. Ren added to the beast's anger by firing off his own weapons rounds.

Weiss took this moment, to quickly grab her scroll and call for Myrtenaster's assistance, feeling rather exposed without her weapon.

The Alpha collided with the back wall, small pink fires covering its arms where it tried to protect itself from the Dustling's rounds. Looking to its left side, the Grimm spied a giant metal door that led to an elevator. The Grimm's mind raced as the small female reloaded her weapon, at this rate, the Grimm's arms would be reduced to bloody stumps if he didn't do something.

He needed a shield.

Grabbing the elevator door, the Alpha wrenched the metal slab off it's hinges, the sound of rending metal screeching through the hallway. Nora unleashed another rocket at the Grimm, but this time the Alpha was prepared. The Beowolf swiftly brought the giant hunk of metal round and held it in front of itself, the pink round exploding against the improvised shield.

The kinetic force of the blast caused the Grimm to step back, but the second the smoke cleared the Grimm was back on its feet, growling sinisterly at the ginger haired girl. The girl meanwhile appeared unfazed by the monsters display of intimidation and prepared to fire another shot.

The Grimm wouldn't give her a chance though as in a blur, the wolf leapt up into the air and aimed to slam the elevator doors into the duo's heads. Both however, nimbly dodged the attack, the slab of metal instead forming a crater in the ground. Unfazed, the Alpha swung the door round itself in a wide arc. Ren practically bent backwards to avoid the attack, the door just inches away from scraping his chin. Using the momentum from the swing, the Beowolf brought itself back up to its feet, and swung the door in an axe swing, trying ferociously to hit one of its aggressors.

Ren rolled out of the way, another crater forming where his body used to be. Nora meanwhile had switched Magnhild into its hammer form and jumped up behind the distracted wolf.

"SMASH!"

Nora swung the hammer down onto the Grimm's skull. Such was the force of the blow that the Grimm's head was sent plummeting down to the floor, blackened blood spewing from its fanged jaws from where it bit its own tongue. For a moment the Grimm simply kneeled on the cracked floor, panting from exhaustion and dazed from the blow. Nora brought her hammer up to rest on her shoulders, grinning cheerfully down at the stricken Alpha.

"C'mon boy, don't you wanna play. C'mon doggy, c'mere boy"

The Dustling's mockery only fuelled the Grimm's fury to rise higher and higher than before, to the point where it's crimson eyes were now glowing with unholy hatred, black smoke billowing from its maw.

 **GRRRRROOOOOOOAAARRRRGGGHHHH!**

With shaking muscles, the wolf forced itself once again to rise back to its feet, metal door still in hand. Nora brought her hammer about in front of her, stance low to the ground and bouncing on her heels in manic glee. The Grimm raised the elevator door above it's head and swung down towards the smaller female. Nora swung her hammer to meet the Alpha's improvised weapon.

As the two clashed, a massive shockwave blasted outwards from the impact zone, shattering the glass of a nearby window. Of course, Magnhild had an advantage that the Grimm's weapon did not possess. It could still fire explosive rounds even in its hammer form, so as the Grimm tried to apply pressure onto the door to try and force Nora to the ground, the girl simply pressed the trigger and the Grimm's weapon was blasted backwards from the sudden explosive force.

Once again on the backburner, the Grimm was helpless to stop the oncoming swing from the girl's hammer. The force of the blow snapped the Alpha's head backwards, a tooth being jarred loose from the impact and sent flying through the air. A howl of pain pierced the air as blood started to leak out from the Grimm's gums. Nora brought her hammer back, intending to end the fight with one more swift blow.

But the Beowolf had officially lost all sense of calm and rationale.

In a blazing burst of speed, the Grimm dropped the elevator door and sucker punched the girl in the gut, sending her up into the air. Frothing at the mouth in blind fury, the Grimm elbowed Nora in the spine at the apex of her flight, sending her hurtling back to the ground with a crash.

The beast sneered down at the prone form of the girl, and then exclaimed in pain as Ren sliced at his back to divert the monster's attention away from his teammate. The Beowolf spun round and roared in hatred at the male's interference.

Ren backed up, gaining some distance between himself and the Wolf Monster as it got down on all fours and then lunged towards him, claws outstretched. Ren leapt up and over the charging beast and brought Stormflower in front of him, preparing to fire at the Grimm from above.

It came as a great shock to Ren then, when as he soared through the air, the Beowolf's burning eyes followed him through the air and then latched onto one of the boy's ankles.

" _ **NOT… THIS TIME…. HUMAN FILTH!"**_

Before Ren could even try to pry himself from the grip the Alpha had on his leg, the Grimm had Ren promptly reacquainted with the ground in a very vicious body slam.

And then he slammed him down again.

And again.

And then the Hell Hound slammed the magenta-eyed boy into a stone pillar and before the male could even take a breath, sliced his ivory coloured claws across Ren's back, eliciting a cry of pain from his opponent as his aura finally broke, that was music to the beast's ears.

"REN!"

The Grimm's ears twitched at the cry of alarm from his second opponent, the Female quickly getting back to her feet and rushing towards the Wolf before he could do any more damage to her oldest friend.

The Grimm felt a cruel, sadistic smile cross his face as a particularly nasty idea came to it's head. The Grimm spun to face the hammer wielding girl, and then lobbed the long-haired male at her as if he was a softball.

As the Grimm had hoped, Nora was taken off guard by the sudden throwing of her teammate and dropped her hammer to catch the boy.

She wasn't given the opportunity to retrieve her weapon. In a flash the Beowolf was upon the two of them, grabbing both of their heads in it's giant paws and then bringing them slamming them down to the ground.

Lifting the two of them back up into the air, the Alpha pinned them against the stone wall and slowly started choking the life out of the two of them, his claws slightly digging into their skin inch by inch, their blood slowly seeping out and covering the beast's paws.

" _ **DIE!... DIE!... DIE!"**_

…..

Within a matter of moments, Weiss's locker crashed through the ceiling, its rocket engine bursting blue flames as it settled slowly onto the ground. Quickly inputting the six-digit code on the lockers keypad, Weiss grabbed her trusty Rapier and started loading it full of dust cartridges.

Before she could re-join the fight and help Nora and Ren against the raging Grimm, her scroll lit up and started incessantly ringing. Looking out across the battlefield, Weiss observed as the combined efforts of Nora and Ren's were pushing back the Beowolf with a steady stream of bullet's and cannon fire and judged that for the moment she could leave the Grimm to be dealt with by the two fighters'.

Looking down to open her scroll revealed that Ruby was the one trying to contact her.

" _This had better be important Ruby"_ Weiss silently fumed as she answered the call from her partner.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelled before Weiss could even get a word out

"Ruby, what is it, now is really not a good time for this"

"I know but listen, you need to get Fenrir to the school gates. Professor Ozpin says he has something that should be able to knock him out"

Weiss couldn't help but blink incredulously, even though Ruby couldn't see her.

"I'm sorry did you just say knock him out?"

"Uhhh… Yes?"

"Ruby" Weiss huffed in annoyance "He's a Grimm, we're supposed to kill them not capture them"

As if to emphasise Weiss's point, a loud roar shook through the halls of Beacon as the Grimm tried to bat away its opponents.

"I know but Ozpin said he wants him alive, he…" Ruby paused for a second, trying to find the right words that would get the heiress to understand "He says that Fenrir's still in there somewhere, we've got to try and bring him back out"

Weiss was still conflicted about this whole scenario. Like every child on Remnant she was taught to fear the Grimm. She was told about how they were all soulless monsters that had been around since humanity's beginnings and that they wanted nothing more than to devour their whole race.

Capturing a Grimm for scientific purposes, that Weiss could understand. But to take one alive simply just because just didn't make any sense to the white-haired girl.

Weiss was then brought out of her internal conflict at the sound of a massive crashing sound. As she turned to look back at the battleground, her eyes widened in fear at how in just a few short moments, the balance of control in the fight had shifted massively.

The Beowolf now held both Nora and Ren up in the air, their weapons cast aside on the ground. The Grimm snarled as it slowly but surely strangled the two would-be Huntsmen in it's giant paws. From the side Weiss could just make out tiny droplets of blood seeping out from underneath the Alpha's spear-like claws.

"Weiss are you there?!"

Weiss barely heard her leaders question as she brought Myrtenaster's blade up in front of her, the dust barrel spinning as the girl prepared to fire a salvo of shock dust at the distracted Grimm. In a flash, the blade of Weiss's weapon started to glow a bright yellow, with tiny electrical sparks dancing along the blades edge as the weapon was effectively coated in a thin layer of the powerful crystals.

"Get… the Grimm to the entrance. I got it"

And after snapping her scroll shut, Weiss unleashed a giant arc of lightning from her sword, which then sailed through the air and collided against the unsuspecting Beasts back.

The Grimm howled in pain as the electricity coursed throughout it's body, causing him to drop his prey who crumpled to the ground, breathing heavily. The Grimm spun erratically, eyes darting about in a furious frenzy as it was once again interrupted during a kill. Eventually the Grimm zeroed in on the battle-ready stance of the Schnee heiress, body upright, stance confident and face betraying not even the slightest hint of fear as she pointed the tip of her blade towards the thoroughly enraged Wolf.

For a moment there was silence in the wrecked hallway as the human and Grimm stared each other down.

And in an explosion of movement, the Grimm charged towards Weiss, roaring to the heavens in hatred all the while.

Weiss stayed put as the Beast charged down the hallway towards her, until just as the Monster was about to be on top of her, she darted backwards with a slight nudge from one of her intricate glyphs.

And just like that the chase resumed.

….

Ruby fidgeted nervously as she stood beside her Headmaster whose eyes never once wavered from the large front doors of the school, as if expecting them to burst open any second.

On his other side, Glynda, Port and Oobleck stood to attention, weapons at the ready in case the plan went sideways in any way. The rest of the student body had long since been evacuated from the main campus, being kept on the opposite side of the school far away from the rampaging Beowolf.

The only other students present was the rest of team RWBY and the two remaining members of team JNPR. Apparently, Miss Valkyrie had decided she wanted to take a swing at fighting the giant Alpha Beowolf, and Mr Ren had been reluctantly dragged along for the ride.

Ozpin glanced upwards at the top of the archway of the front door, where two metal devices had been temporarily affixed to the age-old stonework. The strange devices looked like a pair of fishing harpoons but attached to the machines were giant chambers of glowing, yellow crystals.

Tanks full to the brim with shock Dust. The machines had been made courtesy of Oobleck who had created the machines at the request of the grey-haired headmaster, just in case of such an eventuality.

That didn't mean that Ozpin was necessarily happy about having to use them.

" _And he was making such good progress too"_

Suddenly a deep, bellowing roar reached the teachers and students ears and all immediately snapped their attention towards the large doorway. The ground started to shudder as large, thundering footfalls started making their way closer and closer to their position, getting louder and louder with each second.

Until suddenly Weiss came barrelling through the doors, sweat covering her face and breathing as if she had just run a mile.

And less than half a second later, the giant, wooden doors were blasted off their hinges as a second, much larger form came charging after the Schnee Heiress. Splinters and chunks of wood sailed through the air, one particularly large chunk catching Weiss right on the small of her back, causing her to fall flat on her face.

 **RRROOOAAARRRRGGGHHH!**

"WEISS!" Ruby yelled out in fear as the Grimm stalked towards her downed teammate

"Oobleck now!" Ozpin called out

With no hesitation, Oobleck hit a button on his scroll and the twin machines started whirring to life. Two harpoons shot out from the machines and latched themselves onto the Grimm's arms, piercing the Beasts thick hide and the barbs on the ends of the long pieces of metal keeping them locked in place in the Alpha's shoulder blades.

As the Grimm let out a tooth grinding shriek of excruciating pain, Oobleck hit another button on his scroll and the wires of the machines started to rapidly pull backwards, yanking the Grimm along with them.

The Alpha furiously struggled against the metal wires as they pulled him back towards the doorway, his feet digging grooves in the stone footpath and his muscles tensing and straining against the machines pull. But slowly the Grimm was pulled back towards the door it had just busted through.

While this was happening, Ruby made her way over to her stricken teammate.

"Weiss, you okay?"

At the sound of the silver-eyed girl's voice, the Alphas struggles against it's restraints ceased abruptly. The Grimm brought its gaze downwards to see the cloak wearing female from it's nightmares trying to help the white-haired female back to her feet.

" _ **YOU…. YOU!"**_

And just like that, the Beasts rage returned tenfold, it's bone white mask visibly starting to crack from just how much it was scowling in blind hatred. With an enormous surge of strength, the Alpha started inching its way back towards the distracted pair, the machines groaning and whining in protest.

Weiss looked back and felt what little colour she had left drain from her face at the sight of the nightmarish creature that was once again looming over the two of them, it's eyes looking like they were on fire as it glared hatefully down at them.

"Ruby, get back!" Weiss exclaimed as she shoved the younger girl away from her and away from the Grimm's reach. Unfortunately, this just caused the Grimm to refocus on her as the Beowolf roughly grabbed her left leg and dragged her back towards him.

Weiss was powerless as she was yet again pinned underneath the hulking form of the wolf Demon, drool and blood dribbling out from the Grimm's mouth and splattering on Weiss's clothes and face as it snarled at her.

"Weiss!" Ruby was immediately back on her feet, preparing to aim Crescent Rose at the Grimm's head before she was stopped by Ozpin who strode up towards the Grimm without a trace of fear in his eyes.

"Fenrir Lupus!"

The Alpha slowly turned to look up at the bespectacled man, breathing heavily from exertion.

"I know you can hear me Mr Lupus" Ozpin carried on, the other teachers standing behind him warily and Ooblecks fingers inches away from activating the machines shock dispensers. "I know your still in there, you are better than this now Fenrir. You are more than just a monster, but if you keep on like this then I will no longer be able to help you"

The Grimm stared in silence as the older male continued to talk. Soon a slight dizziness took over the Grimm's mind and it started to shake its head rapidly to try and clear away the fog.

A few, tense seconds passed as the professors and students watched on in apprehension as the Grimm scrunched up it's eyes and groaned in discomfort. And then as it looked down at the still form of Weiss, a foggy memory made its way to the creatures' brain.

" _You either explain why you have a grudge against Ruby, or you can forget about getting assistance from me or anyone else here"_

The Grimm remembered how this tiny, pathetic little creature had threatened him and demanded that he explain himself to her. With that thought clouding his mind, the Beasts muzzle twisted in fury as it leaned down and let loose.

" **RRRROOOOOOAAARRRRRGGHHHHHH…. HHHRRREEEEEAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH…. WWWAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!"**

Weiss was normally a very calm and collected individual, with very little being able to faze her. But as she stared into the gaping maw of the Alpha Beowolf and got a clear view of every single one of it's razor sharp, brilliant white fangs as it roared straight into her ears, she suddenly felt incredibly small.

And completely terrified.

In a flash, Ozpin shoved the crazed Grimm off his student with his cane, picked her up in his arms and darted back to the other's who could only watch in silent terror as the Wolf violently spasmed and shook against its restraints, its eyes rolling into the back of its head.

" _ **I'LL… KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU! I'LL RIP OUT YOUR GUTS, SLICE OUT YOUR EYES! I'LL DEVOUR YOU!"**_

Ozpin could only sigh in disappointment before turning to professor Oobleck with a defeated look in his eye.

"Do it"

Oobleck hit the button and all at once, the machines unleashed their dust reserves and sent them surging through the metal cables that were connected to the thrashing Grimm. The Alpha's roars transitioned into howls of pain as the electric type dust rocketed through his body.

It was a full minute before the Grimm's cries finally ceased, as it finally slumped forward unconscious, smoke steadily rising off its singed body.

A collective sigh of relief echoed across all those present as the beast was finally down and out. Ozpin walked towards the unconscious Grimm, whilst Ruby, Blake and Yang gathered around their unnaturally still teammate.

"Weiss, thank god your alright" Yang cried out as her big sister instincts took over.

"Huh… oh yeah I'm… fine" Weiss spoke painfully slowly, her eyes never once leaving the still form of the Beowolf that had been inches away from tearing her throat out, silently fearing that it was just an act and that the Grimm would just get back up, shove Ozpin aside and come gunning for her again.

Ruby could see that Weiss was anything but alright but decided to talk to her about it later. For now Ruby got back up and walked over towards the headmaster who simply stared forlornly down at the Grimm.

" _It appears Glynda was right, the second you got your old body back you turned on us."_ Ozpin shook his head and sighed, suddenly all too aware of his years and age " _Perhaps it was foolish of me to think that a Grimm, one of 'her' creations, could be turned towards the light. Maybe you really are nothing more than monsters"_

"Sir, look" Ruby exclaimed

Looking towards where Ruby was pointing, Ozpin watched silently as black smoke started to come off the Alpha's body. Eventually it started looking like the Grimm's body was beginning to evaporate, but then as the black fur fell away, pale skin and faded leather was revealed underneath. The Grimm's paws melted away revealing sturdy, black hiking boots and fingerless gloves with long fingernails tipping off the end of each digit. The muzzle flattened and gave way to an angular face and black, neck length, shaggy hair with tiny streaks of blue woven throughout.

Fenrir took a big gasp of air, before resuming a normal breathing pattern. Team RWBY, JNPR and the professors gathered around the unconscious boy, each of them trying to process what they had just witnessed, their reactions ranging from morbid curiosity, to apprehensive caution, to disbelief, to fear, simple undiluted fear.

A groaning sound caught Ozpins ears as he looked past the knocked-out Faunus. Coming through the smoke was the twin forms of Ren and Nora, battered and bruised but alive.

"Oh, look at that Ren" Nora called out weakly "He's back to normal"

Immediately Glynda was on the pair, mercilessly lecturing them about the dangers of their actions, but Ozpin was more preoccupied with the large crowd that was steadily gathering behind the injured pair.

His students, both Human and Faunus looked down and gawked at the sight of the late entry student, lying slumped on the floor with two harpoons sticking out of his shoulders and thin wisps of black smoke petering off his body.

Silently Ozpin watched as the student body whispered amongst themselves, trying to figure out just what in the name of Dust had just happened.

" _Well, this got a lot more complicated"_

As Ozpin mused to himself, Port walked up beside his superior and turned to him with a questioning look

"Well Oz" He said as the two men looked down at the blissfully unaware Grimm "What do we do now?"

 **A/N: And now everyone knows who he is. Fenrir's problems are about to go from bad to worse and as for Weiss… well now she knows how Fenrir feels whenever he looks at Ruby. As always leave a review to let me know what you thought, and I will see you later. Bye**


	14. Chapter 14: Learning guilt

**A/N: Just thought I'd let you guys know I do read you guy's reviews and I'm immensely thankful for every one of them, especially now that we've hit 250 followers. So yeah just wanted to thank you guys yet again for all your support and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

The next couple of hours passed in a blurry haze in Ruby's mind as the unconscious body of Fenrir Lupus, the wolf Faunus who was also one of humanities biggest nightmares in disguise was carted away from the prying eyes of the student body. Ozpin instructed that she and the rest of her team follow him down to the infirmary, a grave look in his eye as he stared down at the Faunus.

Ruby also couldn't take her eyes off the unconscious Grimm, tiny wisps of black smoke still trailing off his body long after he had turned back into his smaller, more human form. Her mind was still trying to process the past few hours and all the revelations that came with it, the biggest one being that the teen she had once thought was just a quiet, antisocial loner was a three-meter-tall Alpha Beowolf with a serious grudge against her for nearly killing him.

Ozpin, Glynda and team RWBY all stared in silence at the still, sleeping form of Fenrir as he lay on a hospital bed, oblivious to the world around him. By this time, night had fallen over Beacon academy, Ozpin had tasked Port and Oobleck with running damage control and making sure nobody else had been injured in Fenrir's little… episode. The headmaster sighed as he thought of the inevitable meeting he would have to call the entire student body into tomorrow morning, to at least partially mitigate the rumour mill that ran rampant in any school when such an event took place.

Though in the end he knew it would do no good. The whole school had seen what happened, or at least heard about it from others who had witnessed the boy transform into a beast right before their eyes. Any attempt to cover it up now would be as effective as putting a wet tissue over a forest fire.

The Grimm were the most hated creatures on Remnant, and Ozpin ran a school that was designed to train young people to fight those monsters. To find out that one of those creatures was now freely walking around on campus well.

It was bound to cause an upset.

" _I'm going to need a lot of coffee before this week is over"_ Ozpin thought to himself, his mind already feeling tired at the prospect.

For a good long while there was silence in the closed off infirmary, the only sounds being the Grimm's heavy breathing as he slept. Eventually the silence grew to be too much for Ruby who spoke up to address the headmaster.

"So, uh Fenrir's a Grimm huh?"

Ozpin turned to look at the small, silver-eyed girl who cowed slightly at the older man's piercing gaze.

"Yes Miss Rose, Mr Lupus here is indeed a Grimm. He has been for all of his life in fact"

This break in the silence caused Yang to also speak up who walked up to the grey-haired man with a more accusatory tone.

"Wait so hang on, how is any of this even possible. And if you knew he was a Grimm why did you not tell anyone?"

Glynda shot the younger Blonde a warning look as Ozpin looked around at the group of four, each of them meeting him with their own questioning gazes. Ozpin noticed how occasionally, Weiss's eyes would flick over to the prone Beowolf, her tense posture and clenched fists being clear indicators as to why she kept doing this.

" _I fear you may have truly done some irreparable damage here Lupus."_

Ozpin let out a quiet breath, before beginning his explanation.

"Truthfully Miss Xiao-Long, I'm still not certain on the details myself. Mr Lupus is the first of his kind, in all human history, there has never been a single instance of a Grimm achieving a human form or even possessing an aura. Miss Rose, do you remember the entrance exam in the emerald forest?"

Ruby straightened up in surprise at being addressed before nodding her head in confirmation.

"Do you remember what happened near the end?"

In fact, Ruby remembered quite vividly what happened that day. From being paired up with Weiss, to the Beowolf pack, to the forest fire, to the hitching a ride on a Nevermore, to the ensuing fight in the ruins between teams RWBY and JNPR against both the Nevermore and the Deathstalker.

But the girl knew that there was only one part of the memory that Ozpin was interested in.

"After we picked up the relics, a giant canyon opened from the floor and a huge pack of Beowolves leapt out from it, one of them grabbed Yang"

Ruby appeared uncertain for a second before looking up to the headmaster.

"Is Fenrir that same…"

Ozpin nodded slowly "From what Mr Lupus has told me, you struck him with your scythe and then launched him off the side of a cliff"

Ruby nodded to confirm Ozpins statement, recalling the long, red gash that ran down the Beowolf's chest, looking as fresh as the day Crescent rose gave it to him.

"That would explain why he doesn't particularly seem to like you" Blake spoke up in her usual blunt manner

Ruby frowned slightly, unable to deny Blake's statement.

"After you knocked Mr Lupus over the edge of the cliff" Ozpin continued "He did not fall onto hard rock and stone, instead our young Grimm here fell into a giant vat of liquidized Dust"

The four girls shared looks of confusion before looking back to the grey-haired man.

"Liquid… what now?"

"Liquid Dust is an incredibly rare form of Dust" Glynda spoke up "It is difficult to manufacture, with disastrous consequences should one get it wrong. Professor Ozpin has long suspected that gallons of liquid Dust have resided in those old ruins, the Grimm here just confirmed those suspicions"

Ozpin took note of how Glynda referred to Fenrir as 'the Grimm' but didn't say anything about it, opting instead to carry on explaining Fenrir's unusual circumstances.

"When Mr Lupus fell into the pit, the Dust entered his bloodstream through the open wound on his chest and reacted violently, transforming him into the Wolf Faunus you now see before you"

Ruby shook her head, trying to wrap her head around the insane idea of something like Dust being able to change a Grimm's body in such an extreme way

" _Is there anything those tiny crystals can't do?"_

"That still doesn't make sense" Weiss uttered almost silently "The Dust shouldn't have changed hi…it at all, it should have killed it"

Ozpin grew increasingly concerned at Weiss reserved demeanour but answered her question regardless. Turning back to face Ruby, Ozpin rubbed his fingers against each other as if holding a piece of paper.

"Your Semblance Miss Rose" Ruby's eyes widened "The rose petals from your Semblance fell with him. The Dust recognized the presence of a human Aura and moulded that aura around Mr Lupus, changing his body and giving him an exact copy of your Aura in the process"

Ruby silently stared down at the Grimm turned Faunus suddenly feeling quite sorry for the sleeping beast.

" _No wonder he was so dead set on avoiding us for so long"_

"Ok I guess that makes sense" Said Yang "But that still doesn't explain why he came here or why your letting him stay here"

Ozpin let out another tired sigh "He came here by himself. He was looking for you Miss Rose"

Ruby spun to face the headmaster in confusion

"Me? But I thought he hated me"

"He blames you for what's happened to him, he thought finding you would give him answers or a way to change him back to his true self"

Silence rested over the infirmary for a time, the four teenagers at a loss for words. Ozpin spoke up one last time, sitting down in a simple chair next to the Grimm's bedside.

"I allowed him to stay here because I saw something in him, something different" Ozpin looked up at the four Huntresses in training "You've all seen it too. Slowly but surely Mr Lupus is learning about our kind and experiencing, perhaps for the first time in his life, emotions other than hate, rage, pain and anger. I let him stay because I saw a confused, lost soul in need of direction, of purpose."

Ozpin leaned back and adjusted his glasses.

"Now that you know all of this I must ask you girls to do something for me. Firstly, I would like you to not tell anyone about Mr Lupus's true nature. The true reasons behind his new form would only further instil a panic among my students. Secondly I would ask that you four now act as lifelines for him"

The four girls appeared visibly shocked at this second task, Weiss in particular looking like she had been asked to cut her own arm off with a rusty saw.

"Now more than ever" Ozpin continued unabated "The entire world will be against Mr Lupus. He needs someone he can turn to for support. Otherwise I am afraid he will be doomed to destroy himself"

With these final words, Glynda took over and dismissed the four girls. Each member of team RWBY's heads were still a messy haze of conflicting thoughts and emotions.

After a while, Glynda also took her leave from the infirmary, but Ozpin stayed by the Grimm's side, his eyes planted firmly on the younger mans steadily rising and falling chest.

" _Oh Fenrir. I hope your ready for what's coming"_

…

 _The Grimm stared down in hatred at the blonde, female Dustling. The wolf's fangs gleamed against it's dark fur as it opened its jaws and prepared to sink its teeth into the Dustlings neck._

 _Before it could make the kill however, the Grimm felt a hot spike of pain lance across its chest before being roughly shoved aside by some unseen force. The Grimm tumbled and rolled along the forest floor before eventually coming to a stop just at the lip of an enormous cliff face._

 _Slowly, the Alpha rose back up on its hind legs, dark red blood from its wound dripping down onto the grass below. Looking up in fury, the Beowolf spotted its aggressor kneeling next to the Blonde female. It was a smaller red-headed female, wielding a giant, crimson scythe._

 _The Beowolf let out a primal roar of rage before charging towards the two Dustlings, murder in its heart and fury in its eyes. The smaller female met the wolfs charge and collided head on with the beast._

 _For a single, tiny, fraction of an instance, the Grimm and the Human looked into each other's eyes._

 _Blood red met molten silver._

 _Before the Grimm was violently shunted backwards by the Females aura fuelled kick and sent tumbling over the side of the rocky crevasse._

 _The Grimm cried out in alarm and rage as it fell through the air. As it turned to look at the ground however, a horrifying sight rapidly rose up to meet it._

 _Instead of a glowing Dust pit, there was only the hard, jagged rocks of the cavern floor. The Beast could only howl in despair as it braced for its grizzly end._

 _ **AAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH…**_

AAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHH!

Fenrir shot up in his bed, cold sweat plastering his forehead and breathing as if he had just run a marathon. It took a few seconds for the Alpha to realise that he was not in fact in his room and was in a darkly lit room that he had never seen before, filled with several beds with curtains around them.

Immediately, Fenrir started to panic, being in an unfamiliar place triggering all his alarm bells. As he moved to stand up however, he was stopped by an ornate, silver cane pushing against his chest.

"Sit down" Ozpin spoke calmly, but there was a definite sternness in his voice that made Fenrir instantly relent, choosing instead to sit cross-legged on the thin mattress.

"Where… am I?"

"You're in the school's infirmary. You were brought here after recovering from your… sudden transformation"

At first, Fenrir didn't know what the older man was talking about, but then all at once, his memories came flooding back to him. The Alpha let out a low groan and massaged his temples in frustration.

"How… long was I… out for?"

"It's been a full day" Ozpin spoke plainly "And in that time, the entire school has become fully aware of your existence"

The Beowolf growled under his breath.

"So… they know I'm… that I'm…"

Ozpin paced around the Grimm's bed, his eyes never once meeting the midnight-haired teens own.

"Not entirely. I spoke to them all yesterday in the ballroom and told them that you are just a little experiment of mine"

Fenrir stared up incredulously at the headmaster.

"What I mean is you were not born in the Emerald forest, you were made here in Beacon. A Grimm implanted with an artificial soul and given a human body to walk amongst the rest of my students. I created you because I wanted to see what would happen if a Grimm was given a human conscience"

Fenrir sat in silence for a moment, processing the older man's words.

"Why?"

"Because if I told them where you really came from, told them that you have in fact been hunting and killing humans for years and that the creation of Fenrir Lupus was just a freak accident, rather than a controlled experiment, the fear and speculation would only spread more rapidly amongst the student body. They would start to think that any Grimm could be turned into something that looked and acted just like them, making it even harder to distinguish between friend and foe"

Ozpin kneeled beside the Grimm, Fenrir finally seeing the small, dark rings that now circled Ozpin's eyes.

"Fenrir" Ozpin spoke quietly "What happened back there, why did you transform and attack my students?"

Fenrir scowled as he looked down at his fist, his knuckles cracking as he clenched his fingers.

"I… got angry… low aura… I lost control"

Ozpin sighed, silently hating the fact that another one of his theories had been proven right. Getting back to his feet, the older man looked down with a disappointed gaze at the Beowolf. A look that caused Fenrir to feel… angry for some reason.

"Your loss of control has just complicated matters by a great deal. The whole school knows what you are now, and their reaction has been less than pleasant"

Fenrir sneered in agitation.

"They… want me dead"

Ozpin blinked at the Faunus's blunt remark, before nodding slowly in confirmation. Fenrir let out a low growl before standing up on his feet.

"Let them try! I'll… take them all on"

At this, Ozpin walked right up to the Grimm and shot him a threatening look that was so out of place on the grey-haired man's face that Fenrir actually recoiled in shock.

"You will do no such thing Mr Lupus, after what you did I am in half a mind to send you back to the forest you came from, some of my students almost died because of your inability to control your aggression. What assurance could you give me to prove that this won't happen again?"

Fenrir appeared visibly shaken for a moment, before a fresh, hot wave of fury crossed over his body.

"So… why… don't you?"

"What?"

"Why… don't you… get rid of… me?"

Ozpin looked at the Alpha in silence, before letting out a long, tired sigh. These past few days had frustrated him somewhat and he only now realised that he was taking it out in a poor way. Taking a moment to compose himself, the headmaster adjusted his glasses before speaking in a much calmer tone of voice.

"I won't get rid of you because… because there's something about you that's different from other Grimm. Something new that over the past few weeks, has gradually begun to form its own identity within you. To remove you from the school now, would only reduce that growth to something utterly meaningless. Slowly but surely, parts of you are becoming just a little bit more human"

At that last word, Fenrir felt his hatred burn hot in his core, and before he could stop himself got right up in the older man's face and shouted out.

"I… AM… NOT… HUMAN!"

Ozpin barely so much as blinked as the Grimm panted after his sudden outburst.

"Maybe not Mr Lupus… but you are not the same Beowolf you once were. And whether you want to believe it or not, there is more to you now than just your hatred of humankind"

Fenrir was silent as the grave, a dull look on his face as he pondered over the headmaster's words. Ozpin meanwhile, turned to leave the infirmary.

"Get some sleep Mr Lupus, you have classes tomorrow. And during those classes it would probably be in your best interests to apologize to some, select individuals about your recent behaviour. Also, it might be a good idea to not attract any further attention to yourself. Just become another face in the crowd"

As Ozpin stood under the arch of the doorway, before looking back over his shoulder at the frustrated Grimm, a sombre look in his eye as he addressed the Alpha one last time.

"If something like this happens again Mr Lupus, I will have no choice but to forcibly remove you from the school. I don't want to do that Mr Lupus, truly I don't but I will if I think you'll only continue to be a danger to my students. You might think of yourself as just another Grimm, you may even think that this human body of yours is just a curse, but I see so much more in you, like I see so much in all those I teach. You are not human Fenrir, but you could be if you wanted to."

With these final words, Ozpin left the Grimm alone with his thoughts in the dark room. Fenrir felt… bad. That final, almost disappointed look in Ozpins eyes, it somehow hurt him more than any threat ever could have.

He felt as if… he had let the older man down in some way.

The thoughts grew to be too much for the agitated wolf, who shook his head in a futile effort to clear his head of his conflicted thoughts.

" _No, he's wrong. When I changed back I did what was normal for any Grimm to do. He was an idiot for expecting anything else from me. I'm not human, I never will be human. I have no reason to feel bad for anything I did"_

Silently, the Grimm curled up on the thin, blue mattress and stewed in his own frustrations until sleep finally came to reclaim him.

" _I have nothing to feel bad about… right?"_

…..

The next day, Fenrir immediately noticed how different the atmosphere felt around Beacon academy. An underlying tension that seemed to follow him like a shadow wherever he walked. A good majority of students he met during that first morning bolted at the mere sight of him. Others would mutter and whisper among themselves as he walked by, their conversations not going unheard due to the Alpha's heightened sense of hearing.

"So that's the Grimm everyone keeps talking about?"

"What the hell does Ozpin think he's playing at, letting an animal like that wander around the school doing whatever it likes"

"He looked right at me… it looked like he was planning to eat me, I was so scared"

"If he so much as looks at me, I don't care what professor Ozpin says, I'm grabbing my weapon and killing that thing"

This carried on for the rest of the day, even during classes. All day Fenrir would feel tiny, constant prickles of negative energy, all being directed at him like small spikes being driven into the back of his head. It grew to the point where the negativity was so constant it caused his head to start feeling itchy. For the most part however, Fenrir simply ignored their comments and their fear filled stares. Truthfully, he didn't care what they thought of him, he still believed that he had only done what was expected of him as a Grimm and felt that he shouldn't feel guilty for that.

However, that all changed once lunchtime rolled around.

It was as Fenrir was walking back to his solitary seat in the corner of the cafeteria, that he was once again nearly tripped up and only just missed catching his tray before it fell onto the floor. Turning back up to face the annoyance, Fenrir expected to see Cardin's smug face staring back at him, instead he was greeted with the sight of a boy he had never met before, looking at him like he was diseased animal.

Judging from his physical appearance, he looked to be a senior year student, standing only an inch or two below the larger Faunus, and Fenrir could feel the anger coming off this guy in spades.

"What are you doing here?" The boy asked with a venomous undercurrent to his tone.

Fenrir said nothing, opting instead to just glare at the male, a warning growl escaping from his lips that went unheeded by the senior student. As if sensing the oncoming confrontation, several students, young and old, Human and Faunus, all turned to look at the two teenagers.

"Did you hear me you ugly monster, or are you so stupid you can't understand me?" The boy yelled out, catching even more people's attention.

Fenrir's hackles started to rise as he felt his own fury stir up within him. Just who was this Dustling who thought he could belittle and insult him and think he could get away with it.

"Shut… up!" Fenrir growled in contempt, only barely keeping his anger in check.

"Why!" The boy responded, "What you gonna do to me huh?!"

Slowly a crowd started to form around the two, their eyes never wavering from the midnight-haired Wolf Faunus.

"Ozpin told us everything" The boy continued "How you're actually a Grimm that he's experimented on to look like us, how you're essentially just his pet"

Fenrir felt incensed with hatred at the word 'pet', but before he could interrupt, the male carried on with his little tirade.

"We saw what you did" He spat with clear disgust "How you nearly killed some freshmen after you turned into a Beowolf. Maybe you didn't get the memo **Freak,** but this is a school designed to help people like us fight monsters like you"

All around the Grimm, voices spoke out in ascent towards the Males statements. Fenrir could start to once again feel the tiny prickles of negative emotions spiking in the back of his head as the crowd was slowly being worked up into a frenzy.

"So, I'll ask again, beast, why are you here? The one place where you couldn't be any more unwanted"

"I… didn't choose… to be here" Fenrir hissed, his anger already starting to reach it's limit as he felt more and more negative energy in the air.

"The why don't you do us all a favour" The male carried on, oblivious to the Alpha's steadily degrading temper "And go back down to the lab you were made in, and stay there till you rot, because just looking at you right now, makes me wanna gag"

Fenrir couldn't take anymore after that, this **Pathetic, snivelling little toad** dared to threaten him, like he thought the Alpha was less than him, beneath him. The Grimm grabbed the boy roughly by the collar and brought his right hand back in preparation to claw the boy's eyes out.

Before he could get that far however, Fenrir felt a sharp piece of metal being pressed firmly onto the back of his neck. Craning his neck back slightly, Fenrir saw that several students had brought their weapons in with them to the cafeteria, all of them being pointed squarely at him.

"Get the hell out of here Grimm" A second male voice called out from amongst the crowd.

"Yeah, go away you horrible beast, we don't want you here" A female voice cried out immediately after.

Steadily more and more voices assaulted the Grimm's eardrums, their cries and shouts getting louder and louder. Fenrir spun in place as the massive crowd ganged up on him, his growls and roars going unheard amongst the large din of the cafeteria. Fenrir felt his head get knocked forwards by a sudden, forceful impact. Looking to the floor revealed that the Grimm had just been hit on the back of the head with a soda can.

Fenrir looked around for whoever had thrown the offending object, but before he could find anyone, he was hit round the back of the head again, this time by a full lunch tray.

Several more objects, large and small, were chucked at the surrounded Wolf and the yelling continued to only grow worse, varying degrees of anger, hatred and fear in each individual voice as they verbally assaulted the Beowolf.

"My sister died because of one of your kind, you monster!"

"How many lives have you taken already Grimm!"

"Go crawl back into your hole you filthy animal!"

"DO US ALL A FAVOUR AND JUST DIE WITH THE REST OF YOUR RACE!"

Slowly, Fenrir felt his rage start to ebb away as a new, less welcome feeling started to gnaw at his psyche. A literal wall of hatred enclosed the Grimm, entrapping him within the emotionally charged mob of Huntsmen in training.

In all his years… the once proud Beowolf had never felt more vulnerable in his life.

He clutched at his head roughly, as the voices only grew worse, seemingly reverberating within his own skull.

"Freak!"

"Monster!"

"Beast!"

"Demon!"

"RRRROOOOAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!"

Fenrir couldn't take any more and let out a wild, frenzied howl that shook the very windows of the cafeteria, effectively silencing the whole cafeteria in one fell swoop. Fenrir didn't stick around to enjoy it however, as he shoved the older student aside and made his way briskly towards the cafeterias exit.

Just as he opened the doors however Fenrir nearly barrelled into a smaller female student that he was all too familiar with.

" _Weiss"_

As the white-haired girl turned to look up to see who was blocking her path, her eyes visibly widened in fear at the sight of the leather-wearing Wolf Faunus towering over her. Fenrir looked down at the heiress, feeling slightly hopeful that maybe she would come to his defence in some way, only to be reminded of what happened the last time they met and at that memory, Fenrir could only let out a small grimace as he saw the girl slowly start to back away from him.

"Weiss…" Fenrir uttered, unconsciously offering a hand towards the girl, as if asking for help. But as Weiss stared down at the clawed hand, her mind started to flash unwanted images in her brain. Where once a black and blue-haired teen stood before her, now there was a giant, black Beowolf with gleaming fangs and eyes as red as fire that was reaching out with a gigantic paw, preparing to crush her head like an egg.

Weiss let out a short scream, before rapidly stepping back, drawing Myrtenaster out from her belt and pointing it towards the dumbstruck Grimm. Fenrir had to take a step backwards, to avoid getting his eye poked out by Weiss's blade. Letting out short, sharp gasps of air, Fenrir looked past the thin piece of steel to look into Weiss sky blue eyes.

She was putting on a brave face, but Fenrir could feel the fear coming off her, he could even see her hands shaking slightly as she held her weapon out in front of her.

"Stay… away from me" Weiss whispered, her voice cracking slightly

Suddenly, Fenrir's stomach felt incredibly hollow. Looking behind him, Fenrir could see hundreds of students looking at him. Some looking at him in fear, others disgust. Their looks didn't bother him nearly as much as Weiss's had in just that singular instance. It reminded him of how he felt when Ozpin looked at him with that disappointed gaze of his.

Only this felt much worse somehow. And then a very painful reality hit the now visibly shaken Grimm.

" _I'm… all alone"_

Scrunching his eyes up tight in frustration, Fenrir ran past Weiss and kept running until he long passed out of view.

But as he ran, a pair of concerned, silver orbs watched him make his way down to the school courtyard.

….

Finally, after running for what felt like an age, Fenrir came to rest just tot the side of a large stone statue, several hundred meters away from the academy entrance. Fenrir knelt beside the statue and tried desperately to get his mind cleared.

" _ **They dared to threaten me!"**_ A dark voice, similar to his own spoke out in his head _**"I should kill them for what they did, make them regret ever speaking to me like I'm beneath them!"**_

" _They're just afraid"_ That familiar, softer voice spoke now, attempting to quell the roaring fire that burned away in Fenrir's gut " _And it isn't like they're wrong, we have killed before, many times in fact. They have every right to hate us"_

"Shut up… shut up shut up SHUT UP!" Fenrir yelled out, silencing the arguing voices in his head. Turning to look up at the statue, Fenrir realized he had seen this statue before, on his very first day at Beacon after he snuck off the airbus.

The statue showed two human warriors, one female, the other male, both wearing hoods and standing on the top of a cliff, the male raising his weapon above his head in victory. Beneath them, under the cliff itself, a lone Beowolf stood on its hindlegs, baring it's claws and fangs to the world.

Beneath the human warriors, almost looking like it was hiding underneath the rocky precipice. Fenrir's face contorted and twisted into a mask of pure hate as he climbed up the statue and looked the male figure dead in the eyes.

"I… am not… BENEATH YOU!"

With a cry of defiance, Fenrir reeled his fist back, and punched the stone Male square in the face, blasting the statues head clean off its body and sending chips of stone flying everywhere. It was a few seconds later, the Alphas fist realized it had just punched solid stone and sent the appropriate pain signals to his muddled brain.

Fenrir hissed in pain as he held onto his now bruised hand. All the while, the image of Weiss's scared face kept resurfacing in his head, only causing his frustration to rise back up.

" _Why! Why should I care about her, about what any of them think of me? It is my nature to destroy. So why… do I feel so… so… wrong?"_

As Fenrir fought within his own mind, a lone figure walked up to just behind him at the foot of the statue.

"Woah… did you just take that guy's head off?"

Fenrir's shoulder muscles tensed as he instantly recognised the voice of the person behind him. Turning around, Fenrir was prepared to yell at the girl and tell her to leave him alone, but he paused when he saw what she was holding.

It was indeed Ruby… holding two lunch trays in her hand and a somewhat awkward smile on her face.

"Uhhh… hi again"

" _Oh perfect"_

 **A/N: Man, I'm getting good at writing these cliff-hangers, aren't I? So, the goal for me for this chapter was to show that Fenrir was going to have to suffer the consequences for his actions and that he is now going to have to work that much harder to win back peoples trust. So how do you think the conversation will go between Fenrir and Ruby this time around, let me know with your always stellar reviews and I will see you later.**


	15. Chapter 15: Burying the hatchet

**A/N: So sitrep on my current situation, Winter just does not want to die here in my corner of the world. It's the middle of March right now and it's practically a blizzard outside whilst I'm writing this up. Regardless enjoy the chapter.**

Fenrir was not a very patient person. After the events of a few minutes ago, what little patience he did have was virtually non-existent, so seeing the silver-eyed girl looking up at him expectantly was currently on a very long list of things he was not prepared to deal with right now.

Silence passed between the two, the Wolf Faunus glaring down from the top of the statue at the smaller girl who slowly started to walk towards him. After getting close enough, Fenrir leapt down and landed inches away from Ruby's face.

Ruby had to backpedal slightly to avoid being stepped on by the dark-haired teen as he got back up to his feet. The midday sun shone brightly behind him, covering his form in shadow and making him look much more intimidating than anyone should look in the middle of the day. None of this was helped by the ever-present scowl on his face, that she suspected he reserved only for her whenever she tried to talk to him.

" _Well Mister Grimm"_ Ruby thought deviously " _You can make as many scary faces as you want, this time I'm not giving up"_

Fenrir however, didn't even give Ruby the chance to speak before he turned around and immediately started walking away.

"Leave me alone" He called out over his shoulder.

Ruby gaped in shock at the steadily retreating Beowolf, before pouting in annoyance and zipping forward in a flurry of rose petals, cutting off Fenrir's retreat. The Alpha screwed his eyes shut tight at the sight of the red petals gliding in the breeze, pointlessly trying to block out the unpleasant memories that came with the sight.

"Not so fast" Ruby snipped, attempting to do her best impression of Weiss in an attempt to look more commanding "You haven't eaten anything since yesterday, how do you expect to fight good in combat practice if you're not getting a decent meal in?"

Fenrir raised an eyebrow in stupefied confusion, before looking down and realizing Ruby was still holding a lunch tray out in front of him. Fenrir let out a low, warning growl before spinning on his heels and trying to walk away again.

"I'm… not hungry!" he hissed

This time around, Ruby actually halted the fuming Alpha by placing a hand on his chest and looking him dead in the eye with a much more serious expression.

"I wasn't asking, you need to eat. You can't run away from me forever you know"

Fenrir's arms started to shake in barely controlled fury. Knocking away the girl's hand roughly, Fenrir got right in the silver eyed girls face and yelled.

"HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH!"

The Alpha recalled the last time the two had spoken and how him just raising his voice was enough to get the red head to back away. This time however she didn't even flinch despite how close Fenrir was in her face. Her expression however, did change to a more sombre one as the leather-wearing boy backed up.

"I know what I did, I know I hurt you and I will apologise for it, but first~" Ruby gave a lopsided grin as she brought the lunch tray just under Fenrir's nose "You've Gotta eat"

Fenrir scrunched up his nose and pulled back slightly to avoid having his face pressed into a sandwich. For a moment, the Alpha considered getting violent with the stubborn girl, his temper already pushed to its limit. But as he stared into Ruby's silver pools shining with an innocent sincerity, Fenrir found he had just completely run out of puff, he couldn't be bothered to stay angry at her.

For the moment at least.

So, with a quiet snarl, Fenrir snatched the offered tray from Ruby's arms and sat down at the base of the statue. Whilst his back was turned, Ruby did a little fist pump in elated victory before sitting herself right next to the grouchy Beowolf.

" _Step 1: success, he's not running away. Now for step 2"_

Fenrir shuffled away from Ruby, putting some distance between himself and the hooded girl. Ruby noticed but decided against saying anything, instead just letting a brief moment of silence pass between them as Fenrir angrily tore into his food. A low breeze drifted by as the two sat under the midday sun. Eventually Ruby turned towards the Grimm and began what was sure to be a long and somewhat exhausting conversation.

"So, Ozpin told us about what happened to you"

Fenrir sneered as he turned to face Ruby and spoke in a mocking tone.

"That… I'm his… pet?"

"Nope" Ruby chirped, actually making the Grimm blink in surprise "You were one of those Grimm we fought in the forest, the one I pushed off the cliff, right?"

Fenrir could only nod dumbly as Ruby hit the nail on the head. Suspicious, Fenrir felt out for any sign of negative emotion coming from the smaller girl, any trace of fear or hatred that had been coming out in waves from everyone else he met today.

But there was nothing, only a slight trace of guilt and that was directed inwards. Fenrir didn't believe it.

" _She knows what I am"_ he thought to himself " _She should be afraid of me, like the rest of those cowardly humans"_

"If you… know this" He growled out towards Ruby "Why… would you want… to be near me? why… aren't you… Afraid?"

Ruby mulled over the Grimm's words, before looking up at the confused Alpha with a small smile.

"Because now I know why you were so grouchy all the time." Fenrir huffed at his attitude being labelled something as childish as 'grouchy' before Ruby continued "And because you were able to last a full three weeks before you went all 'Rawr I am become Grimm, destroyer of worlds!'"

Ruby stood up and did what Fenrir could only describe as a very poor imitation of his Grimm stance, complete with holding her hands in front of her face in a mockery of paws. Still the sight alone did get a slight chuckle out of the Grimm, a chuckle that was rapidly silenced once he realised he had just found something Ruby had done humorous.

Ruby still caught it however and grinned to herself as she sat back down beside the Beowolf who simply pouted with his arms crossed in a way that just looked bizarre on the giant of a man.

"And hey, in those three weeks you seemed to get along pretty well with my team, with the exception of me of course" Ruby continued "So you can't be all bad right? Ozpin was right, you are changing and hey, change isn't always a bad thing"

Fenrir absorbed what Ruby was saying, before looking down at his hands, his clawed, pale hands and felt a scowl cross his face as he remembered how just a few days ago, those same hands had been gigantic, fur covered paws that had Weiss trapped underneath them, ready to rip head from body.

"It… doesn't matter now" Fenrir muttered bitterly "They… all know what… I am now… your… friends are… afraid of me. I… can sense… their fear"

Ruby watched as the Grimm balled his hands up into tight fists, the old leather of his jacket creaking as he did so. Ruby had spoken with the rest of her team after leaving the infirmary that night and the rest of them agreed that they really didn't know what to think about the young Wolf Faunus. Yang had seemed furious that such a dangerous creature had been allowed to just do what it liked all around campus, with no one knowing the truth about his true nature. Blake had been rather quiet on the matter, stating only that up until the Faunus's big blowout, he had been relatively docile.

Weiss… hadn't said a word. Ruby frowned at that particular memory but decided now wasn't the time to bring it up.

"Well, yeah they kind of don't like you right now" Fenrir's head sank into his shoulders as he let out a small groan "But it's not too late to turn that around. Give it time, don't go all big and scary again and I promise this will all blow over"

Fenrir looked up at the girl who was somehow displaying a more confident aura than him. Still, the more the Grimm thought about it, the more he realised he did actually feel just a little bit bad about what he had done.

" _Which makes no sense. For seventeen years I hunted and killed humans and never once felt bad about it. So why do I feel guilty now?"_

"I…" Fenrir stuttered, trying to think about what to say to the girl "I… feel bad… about what… I did."

Ruby watched as the Grimm hung his head in what almost looked like shame. In that moment, the silver-eyed girl saw what Ozpin had seen the first day he met the Grimm.

A confused, lost soul in need of direction.

"That's not a bad thing Fenrir, it just means you wanted them to like you and you feel bad about losing your temper" Ruby said calmly as Fenrir now fully turned to face her "it can happen to anyone, now you just have to work even harder to make them your friends again, and before you know it, it'll be like nothing ever happened"

"You… really think so?" Fenrir asked, a hopeful look in his eye.

"Definitely" Ruby nodded proudly "As leader of team RWBY, I know my teammates better than anyone, trust me they don't hold grudges for long"

Ruby looked around before gesturing for Fenrir to come closer with a somewhat conspiratory look in her eye.

"Don't tell anyone this" Ruby whispered, causing Fenrir to lean in slightly and perk his ears up in order to hear "But at first… Weiss didn't like me either"

"Really?"

"Yeah, she was even more of an ice queen than she is now, but after a while we talked it out and now, we are BFF's"

Fenrir cocked an eyebrow at that last part before shaking his head in confusion

"You… humans are… strange"

"Maaaybeee" Ruby continued with a coy smile "But we have something you Grimm don't"

Fenrir felt challenged at that statement and spoke up "Oh really… what… don't we… have?"

"French fries!"

At this Ruby almost shoved a fry up Fenrir's nose, causing him to leap back in alarm and bash his head on the bottom of the statue. Ruby couldn't help but let out a small bout of laughter, even as she apologized to the Beowolf.

Meanwhile Fenrir could only think of one thing as he lay flat on the ground, nursing another headache.

" _This is the human who nearly ended my life…Oum give me strength!"_

… _._

After that, the two engaged in casual conversation for the rest of the lunch break. Though really it just consisted of Ruby doing a lot of the talking whilst Fenrir only interjected occasionally. At one-point Ruby ended up recounting to the Alpha what happened on that day in the emerald Forest, both before and after Fenrir showed up.

Despite his lowered mood, Fenrir burst out into a fit of laughter when Ruby told him about how she and Weiss hitched a ride on a passing Nevermore.

"Those… Feather-brains… were always dumb" Fenrir said after Ruby enquired what he found so funny

"Huh? I thought all you Grimm liked each other?"

Fenrir scoffed "No… we don't like… anyone… not even… each other"

This back and forth continued for some time, with Fenrir actually telling Ruby a little about his own past. After pretending to be just another human for so long, it felt nice to finally speak openly with someone who wasn't judging him.

Though he did leave out the grizzly details of just what he had done to the Humans he killed, and how many he had slain. Instead he just told the girl about the various sights and locations he had encountered on his travels across all of Remnant.

"Wow, so you've been around the whole world"

"Grimm… never stay… in one place" Fenrir said proudly

"So, what was your favourite spot in all of Remnant?"

Fenrir thought about it for a second before replying

"Probably… Atlas… I always liked… the colder… areas… What about you?"

"Oh, I haven't done a lot of travelling, so I don't really know for sure"

"Hmm… You should try it sometime… it's… relaxing"

Not long after, the bell rung signalling the beginning of afternoon classes. Fenrir felt a twinge of dread course throughout his body as he realised that the moment of peace had passed and now he would have to go back to being surrounded by a sea of negative energy as the rest of the school hated him for simply existing.

Ruby noticed the Alpha's stiffened posture and came to the same conclusion Fenrir had just come to. Nodding to herself, Ruby reached up and placed a small hand on the Grimm's enormous shoulder. Fenrir flinched slightly before looking down at Ruby, a small spark of fear noticeable in his midnight coloured Irises.

"Hey, don't worry about them. Just show that your better than those other Grimm and within a few weeks, no one will care about what you are. And hey, I'll put in a good word with the rest of my team. Though I'd tred lightly around Weiss for a little while, you hit her the hardest it seems"

Fenrir winced at Ruby's words, recalling just how horrified Weiss had looked the second she saw him.

"I know… I… messed up"

"First step to solving a problem" Ruby spoke in a jokingly, high class tone "Is admitting you have one"

Fenrir huffed good-naturedly before nodding at the smaller girl.

"Thank… you Ruby"

"Don't mention it, I know it's no fun to be on your own. Oh, and hey again, sorry for what I did to you, really."

Fenrir shook his head before waving his hand in the air.

"Its… fine… I'm over it now… anyways… more important… things to worry about… right now"

"Oh cool. Welp bye Fenrir. Nice to finally speak to you"

"Yeah… same to you"

With that Ruby turned and walked off to her next class. Out of sight though, Ruby did a little jig in victory as her plan went perfectly.

" _He doesn't hate me anymore, yes yes YES. Nice one Ruby Rose"_

Fenrir just about caught the end of Ruby's little dance, before she zipped off to who knows where. Fenrir could only chuckle at the girl's antics, and then his laughter increased as he came to a sudden realisation.

" _The very person who cursed me with this new body, is now quite possibly the only friend I've got left in this whole school. Dust sakes, what is happening with my life right now!?"_

Brushing a hand through his hair, Fenrir stuffed his hands into his pockets and made his way briskly through the school halls. His conversation with Ruby had opened his eyes to a great many things, such as the fact that for the first time in his life, he felt guilty for harming a human and that completely without noticing, he had grown rather fond of the group of four.

" _Ruby said I'll have to work harder than ever to regain her friends trust. Very well then, I'll rise to this challenge and I'll beat it, like any true Grimm would"_

That would have to wait right now though, first he had to survive the rest of the day.

…..

The rest of the day passed by relatively without issue. The Alpha still felt the stabbing sensation of dozens upon dozens of people directing pure, negative energy towards him, but nobody had actually confronted him like those seniors in the cafeteria.

But while Ruby had been willing to approach him, the rest of her team were still… cautious. Yang had practically glared at him from across the room, more out of distrust than anger though, if what Fenrir's senses were telling him. Blake also wouldn't meet his eyes and as for Weiss… no just no.

Out of everyone in the whole of Remnant, crazy as it sounded, it was those three's negative feelings that actually felt the most painful to him.

" _I've been here less than a month, and already these humans are getting to me. Am I really that weak willed, or just that starved of attention. Either way it's pathetic"_

Soon enough, the school day ended, and Fenrir wasted no time in making his way as quickly as he could back to his room, eager to not have a repeat of lunchtime. Just as Fenrir turned the corner at the lowest level of the building however, Fenrir saw a sight that almost froze his heart.

A group of humans, both human and Faunus, brandishing weapons and waiting by his door.

In a flash, the Alpha hid back behind the wall and strained his lupine ears to listen in on a conversation two of them were having.

"I don't like this man, what if we get caught" A younger student whispered fearfully "Ozpin said…"

"I don't care what professor Ozpin said" An older student barked "I came to this school to fight monsters, not share a classroom with one"

"Beowolves are nothing but scavengers" another student, this one a female spoke out "I bet it's just waiting for us to turn our backs on it and then WHAM we're all in its stomach being digested"

"Whose to say he hasn't already munched on a few of us already" The smaller spoke up again, shaking slightly

"Shut your traps" The ringleader snapped "It'll be down here soon, and when he shows up jump him, he can't take all of us. It's just one Grimm, we kill their kind everyday this'll be no different"

Fenrir could physically feel himself begin to burn with rage at the sheer nerve these humans were displaying.

" _Standing outside my room, waiting to kill me like spineless… assassins!_ _ **I should tear them to pieces FOR THINKING THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH THIS!"**_

But then Fenrir remembered the words both Ozpin and Ruby had spoken to him and he let out a quiet puff of air and stepped back.

" _It was my anger that got me into this mess. Attacking now would only make things worse for me in the end. Besides, they all have their weapons and they know how to use them, it's a fight I won't win."_

So, with that, Fenrir turned and began making his way back up the stairs, deciding to just wait until they gave up and left.

That didn't mean he felt good about it, if anything walking away from a fight was considered cowardly amongst Grimm kind, so this decision really didn't sit right in the Beowolf's head.

CRREEEAAAAK

Fenrir winced as he stepped down on a wooden plank as he made his way up the stairs.

"Did you hear that? He's here"

" _Run"_

Fenrir wasted no time and darted off like a bullet, racing up the long staircase. Behind him, he could make out the sound of multiple footfalls trailing after him. Turning a corner sharply, Fenrir sprinted through the hallways of Beacon, making as many sharp turns as possible in order to throw off his pursuers.

The hunter was being hunted.

Eventually as Fenrir raced down the long, stone corridors, the Alpha spotted a pair of giant, oaken doors.

" _The library"_

Making his way over to the doors, Fenrir burst through and then shut the doors behind him, keeping himself crouched down so as not to be seen through the glass windows. Not long after, Fenrir caught the sound of rushing footsteps, racing just past the closed door.

For a time, there was silence, and then when Fenrir was sure they were gone, he let out a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. The Grimm felt bitter shame and humiliation curdle inside him like acid.

" _This is what I have been reduced to. Running scared from a group of young Dustlings. I'm starting to wonder if this will be worth it in the end"_

Sighing to himself, Fenrir got back to his feet and took a look around the mostly empty library, the few occupants remaining to busy with whatever they were doing to notice him.

" _Well, as long as I'm here. Might as well pass the time until it's safe to go back to my room"_

Fenrir started to walk down the long aisles, looking for anything that took his fancy until eventually he saw another history book. This one appeared to detail the Faunus rights revolution which if Fenrir remembered correctly, happened not long after the great war ended.

" _This should keep me occupied for a while"_

As he turned around to find a seat however, the Grimm was greeted with a sight that was nearly as alarming as the mob of students that had been waiting outside his room.

" _Blake"_

Indeed, there she was, looking right at him with suspicious eyes. Fenrir felt like he was frozen in place as the black-haired girl continued to scrutinise him.

"Ummm… Blake listen… I…"

"Stop"

Blake cut him off, causing the Grimm to look down at the floor in embarrassment, his tail wound tight around his leg. Blake took a few steps towards him before speaking again.

"Have you killed anyone?"

"What"

"After you got your new body, have you killed anyone?"

Fenrir was confused for a second, before shaking his head

"No"

Blake nodded "Ok"

And just like that, she turned back around and sat back down at a nearby desk. Fenrir gaped at her for a bit, before coming to his senses and walking up to her.

"Wait… that's it? Your… not angry… with me?"

Blake looked back up at him

"I'm not exactly happy with you, its not easy to get along with someone who you know is actually a monster" Fenrir felt his ears flatten at that statement before Blake continued "But, you seem like you're not exactly happy with the situation yourself, and… your not the only one who feels like the whole worlds against you, and your trying to make up for it"

Fenrir felt confused at that statement, not sure as to what Blake was talking about. But then Blake just turned back to her book.

"As long as you don't let it happen again, I've got no problem with you"

Fenrir felt oddly relieved at that last statement, as if a great weight had just been lifted off his shoulders. Looking back down at his book, the Alpha nodded before grabbing a chair and seating himself near to the bow-wearing girls location.

"Do… you mind if I… stay here for a bit?"

Blake smiled slightly to herself, she had seen the wolf Faunus the moment he entered the room and had heard the mob of people that came rushing past the door. From this she had gathered the boy hadn't meant to come here, but if she suspected correctly, it wasn't safe for him to go out right now.

"Sure"

Fenrir felt a familiar facial twitch and a growing warmth in his chest that steadily evaporated the lingering bitterness that rested in his core. Opening his latest book, the two began to read in silence, Fenrir content with just Blakes company as the sun continued its descent outside.

" _Well"_ He thought to himself " _I suppose that's two people now, who are still on my side. That's good… really good"_

 **A/N: Christ writing dialogue for these characters is hard. Overall, I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter but hopefully you guys like it, and if anything didn't seem right to you, let me know. Next chapters gonna have another big action scene, and Fenrir is going to have to make a pretty big decision.**

 **Who is he.**

 **See you then.**


	16. Chapter 16: my choices part 1

**A/N: So, this is one chapter I've been looking forward to writing for a while. Mainly because it was the idea presented in this chapter that made me think about actually writing this up as a full story. More on that at the end. For now, enjoy.**

All was quiet as night once again descended over Beacon Academy. All the students and most of the staff had long since turned in for the evening. However deep within the bowels of the Huntsmen academy, a one Peter Port was quietly surveying his most recent batch of captured Grimm.

Imprisoning a Grimm was an exceptionally arduous task for even the most skilled of Huntsmen. More often than not, the imprisoned Grimm would either break out of their confinements or die not long after being captured. Despite these numerous setbacks, the seasoned Huntsman had managed to gather a modest collection of Grimm that he would later use as practice for his students, over the course of his lengthy career.

At this point in time however, Port had been given a task by Ozpin to gather a specific type of Grimm, not for combat training but rather for research. And this research, the headmaster hoped would give them better insight into Beacon's most unusual student yet.

"Mike, Marty. How are we today?"

The response the elder professor got was two, menacing growls from two, very angry Beowolves glaring at him from the shadows. In fact, all around the moustached professor, several electrified cages of varying sizes all contained two or three Beowolves apiece. None of the Wolf type Grimm looked any where near happy about being stuck in the situation they were in, but it wasn't like they could do much about it. Port had been quite thorough in ensuring none of the Grimm got a lucky chance of escape.

The bars were made of the strongest Atlesian steel the academy could afford and as already stated, a continuous current of shock Dust was being fed through each and every bar, ensuring that any Grimm that attempted to try their luck and pry the bars apart, would be given a hearty zap for their troubles.

One cage that was larger than all the others, contained just one Grimm. An Alpha Beowolf, much more menacing than its smaller brethren and judging from the raggedness of its fur and the various nicks and chips in its dull white bone spikes, much older too. If the professor had to make an educated guess, he'd peg this specific Grimm to be well over a hundred years old, far older than the academies 'other Alpha'.

Truthfully, Port preferred a more varied selection of Grimm with which to practice and hone his skills on, but Ozpin had asked him directly to gather as many Beowolves as he could find so that they could better analyse the Wolf type Grimm's biology in hopes of better aiding Mr Lupus's condition. And Peter would sooner dye his moustache pink before he let down the man whom he had respected and followed for many years.

Speaking of the headmaster, the grey-haired professor chose that moment to join the veteran Huntsmen in the Grimm containment room, mug of coffee as always in hand. Ozpin gave a small, tired smile when he noticed his fellow professor in the room and walked over to join the man in front of the large, metal cages.

"Good evening Peter"

"Ah! Ozpin old boy" Port called out jubilantly, the volume of his voice causing several Grimm to hiss and growl in irritation "Burning the midnight oil as well I see"

"Indeed" The headmaster spoke in a much more subdued tone as he turned to look up at the Alpha Beowolf, leering over the two menacingly, it's red eyes burning like hot coals against a black night sky.

"I trust this will be enough Beowolves for you to conduct your research, for now at least"

Ozpin nodded "Definitely, the more we learn about the Beowolves, the better we'll be able to help young Mr Lupus. I appreciate you doing this for me Peter. I would have done it myself but sadly a headmaster's work is never done"

Port cut off Ozpins apologies with a wave of his hand. "Think nothing of it Oz. This was the least I could do for you considering all you've had to deal with these past few months"

Ozpin nodded in thanks before the two men turned to walk out of the room, the Beowolves growling after them all the while. It was as the two exited the room that Ozpin decided to inquire about the state of their most recent student.

"How has Mister Lupus been by the way, I don't often get the chance to speak with him these days.

Port frowned slightly as he recalled how the Grimm turned Faunus had been behaving these past few weeks once his identity had been fully revealed to the school.

"Hmm. He's been very withdrawn lately, I mean more withdrawn than usual. The students nowadays tend to either avoid him, or flat out insult his very existence as he walks by. He acts like it doesn't bother him but every now and then… there's this look in his eyes. I can't properly explain it but whenever I see it, I feel strangely sad for some reason"

Ozpin's brow furrowed as he contemplated this latest information. As the headmaster continued his solemn ruminations, Port couldn't help but ask the headmaster a question that had prickling at the back of his mind for some time now.

Ever since Ozpin had given him the task of rounding up as many Beowolves as he could find actually.

"Umm… Oz" Port asked quietly "You know I trust you completely, but I feel the need to ask. Why are you going through all this trouble for this one Grimm? It's not that I hate the boy or anything, far from it but it just feels like an awful lot of work that could potentially end up going nowhere don't you think? Especially considering what happened when he temporarily regained his true form"

Ozpin regarded his fellow professor briefly, before looking out through a nearby window to gaze up at the starry expanse above.

"Mr Lupus has his issues certainly, and I am all too aware of his recent episode. The path ahead for the young Grimm will be difficult, and shall no doubt stay that way for potentially the rest of his life. But you said it yourself Peter, every now and then there is this inkling of something else stirring inside of him, hidden just beneath the surface. When was the last time you heard of a Grimm that made you feel sadness?"

Port regarded the headmaster's words, as the man continued to stare out of the window, deep in thought.

"I still have faith in him Peter, even if no one else does. There is more to that Beowolf than we are perceiving, a fledgling soul that still has room to grow and mature, and if all plays out how I hope it will… perhaps young Fenrir will be able to let go of his hate and join us in the sun."

…

Time passed as it always did for Fenrir, at an ungodly slow pace. Though it felt even slower now that the whole school was out for his blood. Every day the Grimm was constantly alert, the tiny prickles of negative energy constantly assaulting his mind wherever he went.

Fenrir had hoped, if only slightly, that the passing of time would cause the student body to lose interest in him, but it seemed the presence of a Grimm walking around in Beacon academy was more attention-grabbing to these humans than he had realised.

Thankfully none had been so brazen as to outright attack him, not since the incident in the cafeteria with that senior student and the group of students that had been waiting to jump him outside his room. Still, the distrust and malice directed towards the Grimm was downright palpable in the air.

For the most part, Fenrir was easily capable of ignoring the teenager's constant mutterings and tittering's behind his back. He truly did not care what they thought of him, as long as they left him alone, he was quite content to let them waste their time and energy expending their hatred onto him. However, as the days came and went, the Alpha grew increasingly concerned over the thoughts of some select individuals towards him.

Yang was still uneasy around Fenrir any time he approached her, and she'd never leave Ruby alone with him, always sticking somewhat close by to make sure he didn't try anything. As for Weiss well… There had been no improvement whatsoever in that regard. Any time he tried to so much as walk towards the white-haired girl she would freeze up, like prey looking towards a predator, and dart off before Fenrir could even get a word out.

It was a constant source of irritation for the hapless Grimm. Many nights were spent with Fenrir silently fuming on his bed as a myriad of complex emotions raced through his mind, each one vying for his attention yet him being unable to focus on even a single one.

A darker part of his mind felt it would have been better if he had never interacted with the group of four, or anyone in the school for that matter. To simply close himself off to his surroundings and focus only on fixing himself and leaving these infernal humans far behind him, with not a care in his mind.

But, as always, the softer voice would choose that moment to dispel the growing darkness in his mind, to turn him away from that sinister train of thought. It would remind him of how he felt whenever he saw that frightened look in Weiss's eyes, and how it would always leave this empty feeling in his gut afterwards.

" _You care about what they think of you"_ It would whisper to him quietly in the night _"You want to undo your mistakes"_

But this line of thought would only instil his rage even further as he realised that he actually cared about what some _Dustlings_ thought of him. The very idea of that alone sounded insane in the Alpha's mind. And thus, the cycle would continue for days on end, the Beowolf unsure as to what he should do, or even how to feel about it.

" _It's so annoying!"_ Fenrir grumbled to himself as he sat in another one of Professor Ports long-winded speeches. _"Before I became this, I never once cared about anyone but myself. So, what changed, why do I feel like this now?"_

Fenrir continued to stew in his own annoyance as the class carried on around him. Taking some initiative, Fenrir moved from his usual seat in the Grimm studies class [Next to the members of team RWBY] and moved far back, into a tucked away corner far from everyone else.

Nobody said anything when he chose to do this.

From this high up, Fenrir was given a clear view of the rest of the classroom below him, Port once again too wrapped up in another one of his fanciful tales to notice the Grimm's wandering eyes. The small jabs of negative energy in the back of Fenrir's head were as always present and being directed towards the young Alpha from all over the room.

Right now, however, Fenrir was focusing more on the emotions of a few select individuals.

Ruby appeared to be just as invested in Port's stories as he was, absentmindedly doodling in her notebook. Every now and then, Ruby had been able to sneak away from her overprotective older sister and offer company to the young man whenever he was alone, which was quite often these days. He never said it out loud, but he was internally grateful whenever the small redhead showed up by his side to speak with him, even if their conversations were for the most part, fairly one-sided, Ruby doing most of the talking whilst he was merely content to listen.

Turning his focus away from Ruby, Fenrir next moved onto Blake who appeared to be at least trying to keep up with the older Huntsman's story. Sometimes, when Fenrir felt particularly frustrated with his own emotional turmoil, he would retreat to the library in an attempt to calm his mind. More often than not, Blake was there as well and whenever she was there, Fenrir would always move to sit beside her. The dark-haired girl would never say a word upon his arrival, she would simply nod her head at him in acknowledgement before returning back to whatever she was doing.

It was silence, but it was a comforting silence that Fenrir greatly preferred over the almost smothering quiet of his own room. In a strange way, it made him feel safe, knowing that he could share this silence with someone who at the very least, trusted him not suddenly jump and attack her at a moment's notice.

Carrying on, the Grimm moved onto Yang, the blonde looking like she was on the verge of falling asleep, judging from the way her head kept bobbing up and down randomly. As usual, the familiar air of unease was all around her whenever her thoughts concerned the midnight-haired Faunus.

" _No surprises there"_ the Alpha thought to himself grimly.

Finally, Fenrir's gaze finally shifted towards Weiss. Unlike the others in her little group, the white-haired girl appeared somewhat invested in their professor's tale, posture upright and proper as always. But as Fenrir peeled away the surface and searched underneath, the Grimm saw a very different picture.

He could see the fear. He could see the terror that entrapped her mind whenever she so much as thought of _HIM_. Whenever her thoughts turned towards what he really was.

Fenrir shut his eyes in concentration as he once again combed through his hazy memories of that fateful day that in reality had only been a fortnight ago, but to him felt like a whole other lifetime.

As the Grimm searched through his memories, his right hand started to subconsciously move across the wooden desk in front of him.

He remembered the rage surging inside of him when he transformed.

He remembered chasing Weiss throughout the hallways of Beacon.

Fenrir's clawed fingertips started to scratch against the varnished wood, yet the Grimm was oblivious as he continued his musings.

He remembered fighting Nora and Ren.

He remembered pinning them up against the wall, ready to end their lives with just a squeeze of his paws.

He remembered the trap Ozpin had set up for him, the barbed harpoons digging into his shoulder blades.

SKRTCH SKRTCH SKRTCH SKRTCH SKRTCH

He remembered Ozpin pleading with him to return to his senses.

He remembered roaring in blind hatred, right in Weiss's face.

SKRTCH SKRTCH SKRTCH

 _Her face…_

SKRTCH SKRTCH

 _She looked so…_

SKRTCH

 _So…_

SKRTCH!

"Mr Lupus!"

Fenrir jolted upwards as he realised he had been caught out. He looked around as he realised a majority of the class was looking his way, confusion written all over their faces. Slowly, Fenrir turned to face the rotund professor, his arms crossed in irritation at being interrupted.

"Can you please not scratch at your desk like that, it's very distracting for the rest of us"

Fenrir blinked as he finally realised what his hands had been doing whilst he'd been taking a trip down memory lane. Looking down towards his right hand, Fenrir observed the various scratch marks his claws had left on the wooden desk.

And then, a second too late, Fenrir realised with a steadily growing sense of horror, the markings on his desk were not just random scratches. They formed a picture, it was crude and simple, but one would easily be able to tell at a glance what it was supposed to be.

" _Weiss…"_

It was indeed a drawing of the heiress, but more than that it was a near perfect replica of how she had looked on the day when the Alpha had been looming over her, ready to cast her blood across the academies stones.

All at once, Fenrir's memories and this crude etching clashed violently inside the Grimm's mind, over and over as his brain recalled with a scary level of detail, the sheer volumes of fear that had been reflected in Weiss's ice blue eyes when he had been just inches away from her face.

She had looked upon him… as if he was the very incarnation of evil.

Fenrir's hands started to twitch and tremble, but now it wasn't from any attempt to use his aura. The Grimm shut his eyes tight, focusing on getting his breathing pattern back to a normal rhythm, his hands clenched up into tight fists as he realised just what he was feeling right now.

As he remembered Weiss expression of terror at just the sight of him, he felt positively wretched with himself. And this realisation, only further aggravated the fires that burned away in the Beowolf's ore

" _Why!"_ He called out despairingly in his mind, almost hoping that softer voice would answer his pleas _"Why do I feel like this now? For near two decades I hunted humans, killed humans. I have seen the fear in their eyes so many times and never once felt even a shred of guilt for ending their lives. So, answer me! Why are you torturing me with this pain? What changed!"_

Instead of hearing the melodic calls of that softer voice in his mind, Fenrir instead heard the familiar tone of professor Ozpin as another memory resurfaced in his pained psyche, from when the headmaster had admonished him for his outburst later that same day.

 _Slowly but surely, parts of you are becoming just a little bit more human._

At these words, the Grimm's head sunk low on his shoulders. Yet again, he cursed the fact that he was given this weak, fragile body that even now, was conspiring against him.

" _I don't want this, I HATE THIS! I was better off just being a Grimm. I never wanted to be anything more than that"_

Unbeknownst to the troubled Grimm, he was being watched from below by a pair of concerned, silver eyes. Ruby had seen how the young Wolf Faunus had appeared confused at being called out by the Grimm studies professor, and then as he had turned to look at… something on his desk [she couldn't make out what it was from where she was sitting] she saw his eyes widen in shock before gripping at his head with a pained expression.

" _I've never seen him look so… scared before"_ Ruby thought to herself, her eyes once again turning back to face in front of her so as to avoid being reprimanded again by professor Port for not paying attention in class.

And so, it was that both the human and the Grimm were lost in their own thoughts… with neither sure of what to do.

…

Late afternoon saw the sudden appearance of a massive thunderstorm as it rolled across Beacon academy. Steel grey clouds unloaded torrents of icy water upon the students hastily making their way to shelter below, as giant bolts of lightning arced across the sky and not long after, would follow the furious, echoing booms of thunder creating what Fenrir liked to call the sky's battlefield.

That being said; he much preferred to observe the storm from indoors, where he couldn't get wet. Fenrir stood before the enormous glass window pane, his eyes flicking left to right and back again whenever a new lightning bolt was created.

" _A perfect representation then, of the storm raging inside my own head"_ The Alpha thought bitterly

He was still troubled by the image he had unknowingly created in the Grimm studies class from that morning, the image of the heiresses petrified eyes still flashing occasionally in his head.

Watching from above, the Beowolf observed the few students still not yet out of the downpour hastily trying to find the nearest shelter, some using their bags or even their blazers as makeshift protection for their heads as they darted to and fro.

Across the opposite end of the courtyard, Fenrir could spot the members of team RWBY hanging out underneath a stone archway waiting for the storm to pass, chatting animatedly to one another.

Fenrir felt his head throb painfully as he saw Weiss, looking subdued as always. He felt pathetic, watching the same four females from afar constantly, never working up the nerve to approach them directly and… apologise for what he had done.

" _I have no right to call myself a Grimm"_ Fenrir's thoughts once again started taking a morose turn as the storm continued its destructive melody above. " _Not if I am so scared of approaching some Dustlings"_

Looking back up to the sky, Fenrir just caught a massive arc of lightning shoot all the way across the sky, blinding him briefly as it sailed overhead.

Before it struck the central spire of Beacon academy itself.

KRRRAAAKKKOOOOOMMMM!

The force of the thunderous boom was so great, the vibrations were felt across the entire campus grounds and caused the very floor to shake.

Fenrir held onto the wall to steady himself. Not a second later all the lights in the hallway went out, covering the corridor in only the dull grey light from outside. As all the students around him looked around in confusion as to the sudden loss of power, Fenrir's eyes quickly adjusted to the low level of light as he stalked towards a nearby window to get a better look at the tower.

Where the central spire had once glowed with it's familiar, pleasing green light, now its glow was gone with the only light source on the stone spire being a small orange speck that the Alpha could only assume was the start of a fire.

" _The lightning strike must have knocked the power out"_

All around him, Fenrir picked up bits and pieces of hurried conversations as people darted to and fro, trying to figure out what was going on.

And then the world around the Grimm muted as Fenrir felt a presence.

A presence that was all too familiar, and instantly turned his blood to ice.

Fenrir's eyes widened, his pupils shrinking down to pinpricks as all of his senses instantly went on high alert. Darting his head back and forth, his ears and tail twitching erratically, Fenrir searched for the source of his steadily rising panic. Until finally he found it, several floors beneath him, a dark presence that once would have given him relief at the feeling of something familiar. But now it only gripped him in terror as he realised what was stirring below.

" _Grimm"_

…

The sound of the lightning striking the tower overhead caused all of the Beowolves present in the Grimm holding cells to cease their growling and snarling as they looked up in curiosity towards the ceiling. The ground shuddered and trembled and then all at once, the lightbulbs hanging overhead all went out in an instant.

And with their disappearance, so too did the shock dust running through the cell bars cease to activate.

For a brief instance there was silence.

And then the elder Alpha Beowolf rose up on its hindlegs, stalked forwards towards the thick steel beams that kept it imprisoned and gripped the bars in its massive front paws.

No electrocution.

Once confirming that the shock dust had been rendered inert from the power outage, the Alpha wasted no time and began slowly prying the bars apart. The shrill sounds of rending metal echoed throughout the containment room as inch by inch, the bars were bent apart from the Grimm's raw strength.

This in turn worked up all the other Grimm into a furious frenzy as they realised what was about to happen. In mere moments they would be free from there cold cages.

And then… the carnage could begin.

With one last, almighty pull, the Alpha was able to make a hole big enough for him to squeeze through and finally escape his confinement.

At this point, a younger Grimm would have simply turned and left, simply searching for its next kill and abandoning its kin to their fates. But this Grimm was old and had seen its share of battles, it knew how strong the Dustlings could get and the air was thick with their stench.

If it wanted to truly cause a massacre, then it would need numbers on its side.

And so, with that, the Alpha turned and began breaking down all the cells that held its captured brethren. Upon their release, the younger wolves barrelled past the older Alpha and began mercilessly hunting for their next prey.

Within moments, the Alpha had destroyed every cell in the room and had released well over three dozen Grimm from their prisons, just in time too as not a second later light returned to the holding cells, the power having been restored.

The Alpha knew that in mere moments, it would hear the sounds of its kin beginning their assault on the Huntsmen academy, the air ringing out with the cries of terrified Dustlings as they tried desperately to escape their fate.

And the Alpha could not wait for the bloodbath.

…

 _Attention all students, this is not a test. There is a Grimm outbreak in Beacon academy. All first years are to immediately evacuate to the ballroom. All second and Third years are to retrieve their weapons and eliminate any Grimm they find. I repeat…_

Glynda's voice ran on loop as people scurried left and right, either trying to make their way to the evacuation site, or to retrieve their weapons. But honestly Fenrir could hardly care less about anything that was going on around him right now. Right now, he was furiously sprinting down the corridors of Beacon, making a mad dash for his room and planning to stay there until this whole ordeal had passed.

He had known there were other Grimm in the school, Ozpin had mentioned that much to him a few days back. The headmaster had told the Grimm turned Faunus of how they would sometimes bring in smaller and weaker Grimm to be used as practice by the students. Fenrir could remember his skin crawling at the thought of his race being used as simple training dummy's but elected to simply say nothing at the time.

He really wished he had said something now.

As Fenrir continued to fly through the crowded hallways, his lupine ears subconsciously picked up a few shouts that were being directed at him from several different people. Along with the usual wave of negative energy that followed.

"WHAT DID YOU DO GRIMM!"

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT SOMEHOW, I JUST KNOW IT IS!"

"WHERE YOU GOING? OFF TO JOIN **THEM** I BET!"

With every outcry, Fenrir felt the fires of his rage flare as the humans accused him of something he had no part of. He would turn around and simply knock them unconscious for their insults, but he honestly had no time right now.

Because he did not want to face his kin, not like this. Not in a body he had only a bare idea of how to use, with no weapons and an aura he couldn't control.

Plus, the very thought of fighting his own kind, didn't sit well in the young man's stomach.

Unfortunately, Fenrir wasn't about to be given a choice in the matter.

As the moment he turned the next corner, he stood face to face with something so familiar, yet so foreign to him.

At the opposite end of the hallway stood a lone Beowolf, growling and snapping at the nearby students as they very quickly, sprinted away from the hell-hound. Fenrir was frozen in place as he looked at the beast. It was small, only barely taller than the students it was chasing, but there was no mistaking the bone white mask with red etchings that covered its face.

The Alpha felt a confusing mixture of emotions that he couldn't even begin to process, as he stared at the beast that would have once been an ally.

But as the Beowolf finally turned and saw the Midnight-haired boy, the beast saw only an enemy.

And with a feral roar, the Beowolf charged towards the stunned Faunus, hatred burning in its soulless eyes.

For a time, Fenrir barely even reacted. Only when the Beowolf was inches away from pouncing on his head did Fenrir finally snap out of his daze. Quickly, Fenrir ducked and rolled out of the way as his assailant sailed overhead. The Grimm spun round, snarling and hissing in rage as it missed its target, before refocusing on its startled quarry.

The Grimm was gearing up for a fight. But Fenrir, turned and ran, running down the hallway that the Beowolf had just been at the other end of.

" _WHAT? What am I doing!"_ Fenrir screamed inside his own head " _Why am I running?"_

Fenrir didn't have long to think though, as the instant he rounded the corner another Beowolf had arrived to cut off his escape.

Fenrir turned to try and find another way out of his situation, but the first Beowolf had already caught up to him and with no sign of stopping, barrelled straight into the dazed Faunus.

The Grimm tackled Fenrir straight through the glass window with an almighty CRASH, and the two combatants fell to the ground below, shouting and roaring all the while.

A great thud resounded through the courtyard as a massive crater formed from the impact of the two fighters. The Beowolf lost control of its own momentum and rolled off to the side as Fenrir groaned in pain, his aura having taken a substantial chunk of damage from the fall.

Shakily rising back to his feet, Fenrir didn't even get a second to recover as the deranged Beowolf was once again on top of him. Its fangs glinting even in the low light and its fur already soaked through from the heavy downpour, the Beowolf bit down on Fenrir's outstretched arm before pinning him to the floor.

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir let out a cry of pain as while there were no visible injuries, his aura was taking a vicious beating from the vice-like grip of the monster's razor-sharp teeth on his arm. Franticly, the Alpha gripped and clawed at the bone mask of his assailant, desperately trying to pry the beast's jaws off his limb. As the pain worsened, Fenrir's mind started to shift as it recalled the various faces of humans that had insulted and belittled him over the past two weeks.

" _This is what they think I am"_

" _Is this what you really are"_ The voice as melodic as a wind chime called out once more in his mind as he furiously struggled to pry his arm free. Looking up into the burning red eyes of the Beowolf, Fenrir all at once felt his rage ascend to a new level of fury.

Growling, Fenrir clenched his teeth so hard he was at risk of breaking them as his face twisted and morphed into one of pure hatred.

" _No!"_ he roared inside his mind as he slowly wrenched the stunned Grimm's jaws off his arm and rose back to his feet.

" _I AM SO MUCH MORE THAN THIS PATHETIC PUP!"_

And with that, Fenrir reached up with his right hand and tore the wolf's left eye out of its socket. Black blood spewed everywhere as the Beowolf hollered in pain at the loss of its eye. Not wasting a moment to even breathe, Fenrir wound his fist back and punched the dazed Grimm with a blisteringly savage cross that sent the wolf skittering away on the floor.

By now, Fenrir was seeing red, furious over how some low class Beowolf had thought that it could take **HIM** down. As the injured Grimm attempted to rise back to its feet, Fenrir extended his claws to as far as they could go and bared his shimmering white fangs to the lowly **PUP.**

And then he pounced.

"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!"

His weight sent the Beowolf toppling back to the ground and in that instant, it was already over for the poor Grimm. Fenrir relentlessly and savagely beat the Beowolf to death, his claws tearing out the monster's throat and spraying its black ichors all over Fenrir's face, but he was in too much of a frenzy to care. Fenrir didn't stop until he had reduced the Beowolf's head to a bloody stump, viscera and gore strewn everywhere.

Finally, Fenrir stopped, panting for air as he sat atop the corpse of the mutilated Grimm. After a few moments, as the rain cascaded down his bloodied face, only then did it fully realise in the Alpha's head just done

" _I… I just killed a Grimm. I just killed one of my kin, one of my own"_

As he stared down at his blackened, bloody hands, Fenrir started to feel bile rising up in his throat as his breathing grew more and more frantic. Fenrir had seen death countless times in his life, both human and Grimm.

But he had never taken the life of one of his own kind. In his mind, this singular moment had just become his final act of betrayal towards his kind. He had donned the skin of a human, he had walked amongst them, talked to them, learned from them.

Grown fond of them.

And now he had just savagely murdered one of his own in a fit of rage.

The very thought sent chills running down his spine.

Sadly, he wasn't given much time to revel in the shock of what he had just done as with an almighty crash, the second Beowolf came barrelling out of the window that Fenrir had just fallen out of. The Grimm landed on all fours several feet away from the emotionally wrecked Alpha.

As the Wolf demon growled menacingly at him, Fenrir knelt frozen in place. His aura had taken a beating from the first wolfs assault, and he had spent all of his adrenaline on just killing the first Grimm.

He was beaten and tired.

" _I… I'm going to die!"_

Mercifully, a saviour arrived to snap the Alpha out of his stupor. In the form of a flash of red rose petals.

"HEADS UUUUUUUUPPP!"

Ruby shot forward, propelled forward by her semblance, and drove the blade of Crescent Rose straight into the Beowolf's skull, killing it instantly. As the Grimm slumped down to the floor, Ruby retracted her scythe back into it's smaller, sniper rifle form and turned back to face the shaking Faunus.

"Fenrir, you okay?"

Fenrir barely registered Ruby's question, focusing instead on the steadily evaporating blood on his hands. Within seconds, both the body and blood of the slain Grimm had vanished completely

" _Its still there"_ Fenrir thought darkly " _The blood may be gone, but its still there. And it always will be"_

Growing more and more concerned with the midnight-haired teens silence, Ruby cautiously approached the kneeling Grimm and placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Fenrir, what's wrong. You don't look so good"

Fenrir blinked, as if finally snapping out of his musings before muttering in a deathly quiet voice.

"I… killed him… I killed… one of my… own kind"

Ruby's brow scrunched up in confusion at this strange statement. Of all things she thought that would shake up the Grimm's cool nature, she didn't think death would be one of them.

"Uhhh… haven't you killed before this. You know back when you were just an Alpha"

Fenrir slowly turned to glare up at the smaller girl with a look that Ruby could only describe as; iced fury.

"Have you… ever killed… another human?!"

And with that final question, all the pieces slotted into place in Ruby's mind. Of course, she thought to herself, something like this would be ten times more unnerving or even traumatising for him when she remembered that he was under the surface, a Grimm. She had never once thought about killing another person, the very thought being unthinkable to her.

Yet Fenrir had just done his equivalent of that. And it was reflected all on his face.

"Oh… Fenrir I'm so sorry, I didn't think about it like…"

"Ruby! There you are!"

The moment between the two was shattered upon the arrival of a certain Blonde Bombshell. Yang came tearing around the corner, Blake following not long after and sprinted towards the two students kneeling in the steadily forming puddles on the floor.

Yang's lilac eyes flitted towards the Alpha for a second, before returning back to her sister.

"Ruby come on. We don't have time to stand around in the rain. We've got to go now!"

Yang's slightly panicked tone grabbed Fenrir's attention. Something had her on edge, and as he looked around at who exactly was present, he soon had an idea why.

 _Ruby…_

 _Blake…_

 _Yang…_

Suddenly, Fenrir shot up like he'd just been electrocuted, Yang and Blake jumping back in equal parts surprise and wariness.

"Where… is… Weiss?"

Yang appeared affronted by the Grimm's sudden question, but before she could potentially start an argument with the Wolf Faunus, Blake quickly interjected.

"We ran into a massive group of Beowolves, one of them was an Alpha. Weiss took one look at it and bolted before we could do anything to stop her. Then the Alpha took off after her and we lost them."

Fenrir visibly froze in dread at that. Yang scoffed lightly to herself.

"Yeah… she hasn't exactly had a great track record with Alpha's recently"

"Yaaaaaannnggg!" Ruby whined out, a warning look in her eyes. Her elder sister's opinion of Beacons resident Grimm had not changed in the least over the past few weeks.

However, what she saw next certainly would.

As Fenrir slowly absorbed Blake's words, he felt an overwhelming sense of grief and shame wrap themselves around his very being. Grabbing fistfuls of his own black and blue hair, Fenrir started to shake and convulse as he felt his eyes start to burn with guilt. As the three girls could only look on in astonishment at what they were witnessing, a single phrase kept repeating over and over in the Alpha's distressed mind. A phrase he spoke out with a quiet whimper.

"I did this… this is my fault"

If he hadn't lost his temper, if he hadn't transformed and gone on a rampage, if he hadn't pinned the heiress down and come so close to ripping her head off.

He knew she wouldn't have run away, she would have fought back.

So much pain was being reflected in Fenrir's ocean blue pools, that even Yang felt a twinge guilt for the harsh words she had said to the Grimm.

" _Weiss is running away, frightened, because of me. Because of what I did. I've damaged her… It's all my fault."_ Fenrir's thoughts screamed inside his own head

" _So, make it right"_ A soothing, melodic voice called out once again in his mind

And with those few words, Fenrir felt a wave of clarity rush over him.

 _Make it right_

All at once, Fenrir's expression changed from hopeless despair, to fiery determination.

" _Yes"_ He declared in his head " _I'll make it right. This I promise!"_

With his goal set, Fenrir turned back towards Yang, who was still trying to process the rapidly changing facial expressions the Alpha had just shown.

From anguish to anger, all in a matter of seconds.

"I… can find her" Fenrir spoke loud and clearly

"What?" Yang blurted out

"Really, you can do that?" Ruby cried out with a bit more excitement and relief in her voice

Fenrir nodded and then looked down at his pale, gloved hands. His aura was low, he was tired from exertion and he wasn't as fast as the likes of Ruby or Blake. But he also knew that they wouldn't be able to find Weiss in time if they just relied on their sight. Fenrir had Weiss's scent, and an inbuilt fear radar in his body.

" _Nothing for it"_ He thought grimly " _If I'm going to be able to get to Weiss in time, I have to transform again"_

While there were doubts in his mind as to whether or not he would be able to control himself this time around, he didn't have time to think about those doubts right now. Time was a precious, finite resource right now and he couldn't afford to waste it.

But as he focused on mustering up his rage once again, Fenrir felt… something inside him preventing him from reaching the upper limits of his fury.

His aura was low, but it wasn't depleted fully yet.

" _Great"_ Fenrir looked up at the blonde brawler in front of him, before nodding to himself _"Guess I'll just have to whittle it down to nothing by force then"_

Stalking forward, Fenrir grabbed Yang by the shoulders.

"Hit me"

"…."

"…."

"Wait, you want me to do what now?"

Fenrir sighed in irritation

"My aura… needs to be… drained… completely before… I can change… Hit me!"

All three present members of team RWBY thought this was an incredibly stupid idea and voiced as such.

"WHAT! No Fenrir you can't do that… there's got to be another way" Ruby cried out

"If you change, there's no guarantee that you won't just attack Weiss yourself" Blake attempted to calmly explain

"Yeah, and anyway I'm not gonna just hit you, just because you tell me to. I don't dislike you that much" Yang added.

Fenrir meanwhile, simply breathed out through his nose in growing agitation, before winding his fist back, and punching Yang straight in the nose.

Yang reeled back, exclaiming in pain as she held her nose to prevent any bleeding. Fenrir cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders as he tried to prepare for what was about to come his way

" _This is gonna hurt"_

And sure enough, Yang's normally calm, lilac eyes shifted to a violent red and her air started to shimmer a bright gold. Before either Blake or Ruby could stop her, Yang reeled back and responded with a punch of her own to the Alpha's jaw.

This one much stronger than his own strike, to the point where it sent him spiralling through the air only to crash hard onto a stone pillar at the opposite end of the courtyard.

Fenrir Heard a faint sparking and crackling sound emanating from his own body as he slowly stumbled back to his feet.

With that one strike, his aura was completely empty. The rest now, was up to him.

"YANG! What did you go and do that for" Ruby attempted to scold her but Yang hardly paid attention, choosing instead to scowl down at the hunched over Faunus.

That scowl however, quickly gave way to a look of fear, her red eyes changing back to lilac, as she saw what was happening to the midnight-haired young man.

His face was twisted up into one of pure anger and _HATRED_ as his body started to shake and shudder.

Inside his head, Fenrir rapidly recalled every insult, every look of disgust, every **PATHETIC PIECE OF DUSTLING FILTH** he had had to deal with over the past fortnight. Each memory causing his contempt to rise higher and higher, his heartbeat hammering away in his own head like a thunderous war drum.

Until finally, thin, black, smoky tendrils started to rise off of his writhing body.

"Uh guys" Blake called out warily, slowly starting to inch away from the hunched over Grimm "Maybe we should start to back away from Fenrir"

"Yeah… heh heh… Good idea. Let's get right on that" Ruby called out weakly

The group didn't make more than a few steps before Fenrir turned to look up at them.

His eyes now a jet black, with flaming red irises.

" **RUN…"** He growled out in an inhuman voice

And with that, team RWBY bolted, hastily looking for the nearest professor who could inform Ozpin about what was about to happen.

As Fenrir's Icy white hands slowly started to inch their way towards his own face, he replayed one thought over and over in his head as a desperate mantra

" **YOU WILL NOT HURT WEISS!"**

" **YOU WILL STOP THE OTHER GRIMM"**

" **THEY ARE TRESPASSING ON MY TERRITORY!"**

" **THIS IS MY TERRITORY!"**

" **AND THEY… CAN'T HAVE… A SINGLE… ONE… OF… MY… PREY!"**

And with that final, desperate plea, Fenrir gripped his face and tore the flesh apart.

And exploded in a plume of black smoke.

 **A/N: I'M ALIIIIIIIVVVEEE! I am so sorry for not updating in a while guys. Turns out adult life is far more time consuming than I thought it would be and I have had like no time to update this story. But I am back now and I promise, next chapter won't be nearly as long a wait. See you guys real soon.**


	17. Chapter 17:My choices part 2

**A/N:** **So apparently whilst I was MIA, this story managed to get well over 300 followers and 100 reviews… well then. Once again, I feel the need to state just how grateful I am to all of you for giving this… thing, a look in. Last chapter I mentioned how the idea presented in this chapter was one of the main reasons I started writing this fic in the first place. Basically, I was looking at fanart of the creatures of Grimm on Tumblr and I thought to myself "I wonder if there are any fic's regarding a pure Grimm being transformed into a human and having to adapt to that change. The closest that I could find was your standard half human-half Grimm hybrids, or highly evolved super Grimm who have taken a humanoid shape. Seeing a potential untapped idea, I decided to have a crack at making my own story for the first time in years, and before anything else was finalised in my brain, this was the first concrete idea that got planned out in my head. Enjoy the carnage.**

 _~Earlier~_

 _Attention all students, this is not a test. There is a Grimm outbreak in Beacon academy. All first years are to immediately evacuate to the ballroom. All second and third years…_

"Aaaawwww what?!"

Ruby felt herself deflate as she actually took a second to listen to what the alarm system was saying. The first time it had rung out across Beacon, the small redhead got as far as the words 'Grimm attack' before her excitement took over and she feverishly opened her scroll to summon her "Sweetheart" Crescent Rose to her arms and begin slicing at any Grimm that crossed her path.

Now though, she was just left holding a massive scythe/sniper rifle that she wasn't being allowed to use and feeling just a little bit embarrassed. All around her, staff and students were running from place to place as in the distance, the faint roars of dozens of Beowolves echoed across all the academy, all while the storm continued to rage outside adding to the chaotic atmosphere of the whole situation.

"Well, nothing we can do now I suppose" Blake added quietly to Ruby's left, already starting to put Gambol Shroud back into their designated locker, "We'll only get in trouble if we try to fight the Grimm now".

Looking behind her fully, Ruby saw the rest of her team had also called on their weapons, roughly around the same time their leader had, purely out of instinct. Yang looked just as disappointed as her younger sister about not being allowed to fight, her arms flopping limply to her sides. Weiss looked… her usual self, her face a perfect representation of cold indifference as she too, began stowing her weapon away. Before her teammates could complete that however, Ruby suddenly got an idea, a grin already forming on her face as she walked up to the others and motioned for them to gather round her.

"Wait guys, what about we make our way down to the ballroom, but if we juuuuuust so happen to spot any Grimm on the way, we can you know, take care of them and make it a little bit easier for our upperclassmen to thin out the hoard on their end."

In an instant, Yang's grin returned tenfold as she nodded at her younger sister.

"Now that's an idea I can get behind Rubes. Yeah let's do it"

To punctuate her point, Yang brought her fists in front of her and slammed them together, an audible clang ringing out from the twin shotgun gauntlets of Ember Celica. Blake and Weiss however, still looked a little unsure.

"Did you not hear what was just said" Weiss said in her usual clipped tone "We have to go to the ballroom with the other first years, I seriously doubt they'll praise us for doing something they specifically told us not to do"

"Weiss, I promise we are going to the ballroom" The silver-eyed girl interjected, a more serious look in her eyes "It's just, if there are any Grimm on the way, the least we can do is offer a little help to those who are having to fight."

"Yeah c'mon guys. I don't know about you, but I've been itching for a real fight, not just those practise matches in Goodwitch's class" Yang finished up.

Blake thought it over in her head, before sighing in resignation as she realised that no matter what her or the Heiress said, the two sisters would no doubt choose to fight any Grimm they came across. So, with that thought in mind, the bow-wearing Faunus brought her signature blades up to bear again and gave a non-committal shrug.

"Sure, fine" Ruby and Yang both fist-pumped in victory before Blake added "But only if they're in our way"

"Yeah yeah sure sure, c'mon gang let's go!"

And with that, the young leader of team RWBY shot off like a comet, rose petals trailing after her. Letting out a sigh of annoyance, Weiss immediately followed suit using her glyphs to give her an added boost. Before Blake could move to join them however, she felt her arm being grabbed by someone and turning around revealed that someone to be Yang.

"Hey…" Yang all but whispered, her face now much more serious "Do you think **HE'S** got anything to do with this. I mean, Grimm breakout, literally two weeks after the last one. Little too suspicious don't you think?".

Blake couldn't stop the small frown that crossed her face. She could understand her partners concerns, it really hadn't been that long since Fenrir's first outburst and for another Grimm appearance to occur in Beacon already, it didn't look good in Fenrir's favour.

But she had been ever observant of the leather-wearing Faunus's mood over the last few weeks, both in the library and out of it. The change was small and subtle, to the point where most probably wouldn't have noticed. But Blake had seen, with every passing day Fenrir's head hung just a little bit lower, his body drawn in that little bit closer.

Honestly, it looked like he's had an even worse time of it than the Faunus. With the Grimm, you grew up _knowing_ they were the real enemy.

Still Blake kept her thoughts to herself as she addressed her teammates query.

"I do not know, but whether he is or isn't involved doesn't matter right now, c'mon we're gonna lose the others"

And with that Blake took off to re-join the rest of her team, Yang looking like she was about to retort before realising her words would fall on deaf ears and simply took off after the Faunus in disguise.

Swiftly, team RWBY made their way through the sparsely populated hallways of Beacon, the echoing clangs of metal, the violent, rapid bangs of gunfire and the feral howls of many Grimm sounding out from all around them as the fight had already begun in earnest. Yet despite all this noise, the group of four did not encounter any Grimm on their way down to the ballroom.

Not until they were almost outside the large, oak doors that blocked off the ballroom from the rest of the school. Outside of the doors, no doubt drawn in by the panic and worry emanating from the first years on the other side, a pack of frenzied Beowolves were furiously hammering away at the locked doors.

Wasting no time, Ruby brought about Crescent Rose up to bear and levelled the scope of the modified sniper rifle, directly in line with one of the Beowolves heads.

"And just when I was starting to worry we wouldn't get to fight anything" Ruby muttered to herself, the tiniest of grins on her face as she pulled the trigger.

BANG!

All the Beowolves in the immediate area recoiled in surprise as they realised the back of the skull on one of their allies had just suddenly exploded in a shower of dark red flesh.

Turning around one by one, their shock immediately dissolved into hatred as their scorching red gazes finally found finally found the Dustling who had shot one of their own. Behind Ruby, the rest of her team prepared themselves for the coming fight.

"Man, you guys picked a bad time to attack Beacon, you should've waited until AFTER we graduated" Yang called out cockily, bringing her arms up in front of her in a typical boxer's stance.

The Beowolves snarled at the Blonde in contempt as their muscles coiled and tensed in preparation to lunge at the four females.

And then, loud, heavy footfalls stopped the young Beowolves in their tracks.

As a giant Alpha Beowolf came striding around the corner, crimson eyes alight with malice as it glared at its newest prey.

Ruby gazed up in a combination of awe and slight trepidation at the sight of the hulking, black wolf Demon. At first, she feared that this Alpha was Fenrir, thinking that the appearance of so many Grimm had sent him off the rails again, but closer inspection showed that this Grimm's bone spikes were of a duller shade of white, and had small chips and cracks that were a clear sign of previous battles fought. This Grimm looked much older than the one she was acquainted with and if that wasn't enough of a giveaway, there was no long, red scar running along this Alpha's chest.

" _Okay, not Fenrir. Good, that means I don't have to hold back"_

With this thought in mind, Ruby shrugged off her hesitation and pressed a trigger on the underside of her rifle. With a series of mechanical whirs, Crescent Rose folded outwards and unveiled a long, curved blade that was almost as big as its wielder to the ravenous Grimm.

"Well Yang" Blake called out to her side "You wanted a real fight, aaaaaannnnnnnd there it is"

"Weiss!" Ruby said loudly "Hit the big one in the legs with some ice Dust, it'll slow it down, so we can focus on the smaller ones."

"…"

"… Weiss?"

Looking behind her, Ruby's face scrunched up in puzzlement as Weiss just stood completely still. Eventually the rest of team RWBY noticed the unusual silence of their white-haired teammate and all turned to look at her still form.

Unknown to them, the Alpha had also noticed the smallest females tense form and more importantly, noted with no small amount of sadistic glee the sheer _tidal wave_ of fear emanating from the puny Dustling.

Weiss's eyes were transfixed on the largest Grimm, unable to tear herself away from the sight of the Beast. The corners of her vision started to turn cloudy and her chest felt like it was being squeezed by a Taijutu, as her mind was sling-shot back to the events two weeks prior.

To when the monstrous Wolf Grimm had had her pinned on the floor, the sun being blocked from view by the Alpha's head, as glittering white fangs hung mere inches away from her head and soulless, scarlet eyes glared down at her with all the intensity of a forest fire.

Behind the Alpha, the smaller Beowolves also started to pick up on the steadily rising panic emanating from the sword wielding Dustling. And when they did notice, their attention completely zeroed in on the small Female.

This one was afraid.

This one was _Vulnerable._

"Hey Weiss, what's wrong?" Ruby questioned with a hint of worry in her voice, barely paying attention to the drooling, shadow monsters behind her. "Weiss you okay? You're starting to worry me"

Weiss couldn't even here her partners concerned voice, her attention entirely focused on the Grimm leering at her menacingly.

" _No… get away from me… STAY AWAY!"_

The Alpha took a step forward.

And all at once, Weiss sprang back into life.

A large, white glyph materialised on the ground and Weiss shot backwards like a bullet. Not pausing for breath, Weiss turned and sprinted away, not caring what direction she was going, she just needed to get away from the living nightmares.

"WEISS!" Ruby yelled "Weiss come back! WAI…OOF!

All of a sudden, Ruby was roughly shoved aside by the colossal Alpha as it came charging past her, bloodlust in it's eyes. The smaller Beowolves followed immediately after, no longer caring about the other three Dustlings who were too stunned to try and stop them.

They wanted to kill the weakest target first.

"Ruby!" Yang finally realised that her younger sister had just been bowled over by the Alpha and ran over to prop her back up to her feet.

"Ugghhh…" Ruby shook her head to clear away the prancing corgi's in her dazed head. "What happened? Why did Weiss run away like that, that isn't like her at all"?

Blake stared down the hallway Weiss and the Grimm had just run down, her face set in a troubled frown.

"The Alpha… she couldn't stop looking at the Alpha" Blake muttered to herself

Ruby looked up at her dark-haired teammate, just about catching what Blake said. Yang apparently also heard what her partner said, judging from the way her arms very subtly started to shake and her eyes had a faint hint of red in them.

" _Dammit Grimm. What have you done to Weiss? Do you even care?!"_ Yang thought to herself, her thoughts towards the midnight-haired teenager turning more and more aggressive.

Thankfully, Ruby was there to pull her out of her thoughts with a quick shake of her shoulders.

"Yang come on! We have to find Weiss, she can't take on all those Grimm by herself"

Taking a second to collect herself, Yang refocused and nodded at her younger sister in confirmation, before the three of them took off in the direction of the pursuing Grimm, pushing their Auras as far as they could go to give them an extra burst of speed.

It was all for naught however as within moments, the girls had lost sight of the Grimm. Ruby wanted to just use her Semblance to quickly catch up to the Grimm, but that move ran the risk of draining her aura too quickly, rendering her incapable of defending her partner.

Soon, it was taking everything in the red-heads power to not go into full on panic mode as she snapped her head back and forth, looking at an intersection with three separate pathways, only one of which Weiss had actually travelled down, but there was no way of knowing which one it was.

" _Ohhh, this is bad really really bad. If we don't find Weiss she might get hurt. Or worse…"_

Ruby didn't even want to finish that thought. As much as the heiress was a complete ice queen, she was still Ruby's partner and the silver-eyed girl had seen a softer side to her that only a very select few were privy to.

Just as Ruby was really starting to lose her cool, a faint crashing sound emanated from outside. Turning to look at a nearby window, Ruby almost didn't believe what she was seeing until she took a second blink and realised that what she was seeing was in fact real.

It was Fenrir… falling through the air as he fought with a Beowolf who had just tackled him out through a window. Ruby just stared as the two Grimm fell through the air before colliding hard with the concrete courtyard below.

" _Fenrir's still human. He's fighting that Grimm."_

Ruby was knocked out of her stupor when she saw the Beowolf pounce on Fenrir and bite down on the Wolf Faunus's forearm.

She couldn't hear anything, but she could see the Alpha's face twist as he yelled in pain.

Ruby was conflicted. She wanted to find Weiss and save her, but she had no clue where she was. Whereas she could see Fenrir, he was fighting for his life in the courtyard.

" _Wait… he's a Wolf Faunus. He's probably got super smell powers like Zwei. He could help us find Weiss"_

With a plan forming in her mind, Ruby set off down the nearest hallway and began making her way to where Fenrir was currently fighting.

"Girls follow me quick!"

The other two hadn't seen Fenrir's fall, but it was already too late to stop the tiny, red blur that was already shooting down a flight of stairs. So, they had no choice but to catch up to their leader, their leader who was desperately hoping for a miracle.

" _I hope you'll be willing to help us Fenrir. Otherwise I'll have just made a very bad choice"_

….

Ozpin couldn't help but feel more than a little exasperated as he was once again, striding briskly through the empty halls of his academy, yet again on the hunt for Grimm.

" _I knew it would be an eventful year, but this is a bit much"_

Around the corner, another Beowolf was stalking the halls, searching for prey. Turning around, the Wolf Demon spotted the bespectacled headmaster and without a second's hesitation, leapt towards the man.

SCHWING!

" _At least this time around, the Grimm in question are entirely mindless. Meaning I don't have to worry about informing my students to hold back. And considering their recent 'Classmate', I imagine many of them have been waiting for an opportunity like this"._

Ozpin continued his musings, oblivious of the decapitated body of a Beowolf desiccating behind him. Speaking of that classmate, Ozpin opened up his scroll and opened up a specially made app that displayed a map of Beacon. On the map, several small red dots were scattered all across the academy.

The dots were Grimm.

Occasionally, single or multiple red dots would suddenly disappear from the screen, telling Ozpin that those Grimm had just been killed. Despite the dire situation, Ozpin couldn't help the slight swell of pride in his chest at his students for their diligence and efficiency in eliminating the Grimm hordes. In all of twenty minutes, the pack of Beowolves had been reduced to a third of their original numbers. But then that pride was replaced with concern when Ozpin saw a large group of red dots all gathered together and moving the same way, with a slightly larger dot leading the charge.

" _It looks like their chasing something. But what?"_

As Ozpin continued to stare at the screen, his dark brown eyes were drawn to the sudden appearance of another dot.

And then he sighed in irritation as he came to the realisation that there was only one reason a new Grimm could have just appeared out of thin air. And quickly jogging over to a nearby window just confirmed his suspicions.

As outside, an enormous column of black smoke could be seen shooting up into the sky.

" _Oh, for Oum's sake Fenrir, not again!"_ Ozpin frowned in consternation as he stared down at the jet-black maelstrom swirling violently in the courtyard.

If he squinted, Ozpin could just make out the steadily growing sillohuete of a man thrashing in the centre of the column. And then the form shifted, twisted and grew into a more… wolf-like shape.

And then the smoke cleared, and an Alpha Beowolf roared up to the heavens in rage.

 **RRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!**

Slowly and quietly, Ozpin undid the latch on the window and brought his cane about in front of him, preparing to leap down from the window ledge and slice the furious Grimm in half.

" _I warned you Fenrir"_ Ozpin frowned grimly, a slight twinge of disappointment in his eyes " _I told you what would happen if you went off the rails again. I can't risk you endangering my students a second time"_

Just before Ozpin leapt down to the courtyard however, the headmaster noticed that the Grimm started behaving slightly… odd. After he'd exploded up to the sky, the Alpha clutched at its skull as if it was in pain, then it went down on all fours and appeared to be smelling at the air.

Ozpin stayed perfectly still, watching the Grimm intently as he tried to figure out what the Alpha was doing. And then the Grimm rapidly spun in place and almost immediately locked eyes with the grey-haired professor above.

For a brief instance, pure, white-hot rage crossed the Grimm's features, before it once again grabbed at its head and screwed its eyes shut tight, a tiny groan of pain escaping from its lips.

And as it looked up at Ozpin again, the headmaster saw with a start that the Beowolf's eyes had changed slightly. They were still the same bright, burning red that they had always been, but a new feature had been added to the fiery orbs that while small, made a gigantic difference.

Pupils.

Grimm never had pupils, yet here this Alpha stood, with two small, black dots in its blood red eyes that made it appear less like a Grimm and more like it's wolf counterpart. For a moment, the human and the Grimm stared at each other, and then surprisingly the Grimm turned away and ran straight at a nearby wall. The Grimm then jumped up onto the wall and using its long, ivory-white claws, vaulted up and over the wall and disappeared from sight.

Ozpin blinked, before bringing his eyes back down to his scroll and began tracking Mr Lupus's movements on the screen.

" _Those eyes. Has he been able to retain some semblance of control this time around?"_

Ozpin watched as the single, red dot representing Beacons resident Beowolf moved, blisteringly fast across the rooftops of the academy. Resuming his brisk walk, Ozpin never took his eyes off his scroll as he saw that Mr Lupus was heading towards the large group of Grimm.

As if, to cut them off.

" _I don't know what those Grimm are chasing"_ Ozpin pondered in his head _"But if your intention is to stop them as I hope it is. I hope you can keep control of yourself for just a little bit longer"_

….

" _What am I doing! Why am I running"_

Weiss Schnee's mind was in freefall as she sprinted out through the entrance of beacon academy. The moment she had locked eyes with that Alpha, her entire body had felt numb and her mind wouldn't stop flashing back to that horrible memory of being at the mercy of someone whom she had thought was an… acquaintance.

So, it was almost without any input from her mind, her body had moved, feverishly trying to get as far away from both the Grimm and the academy, as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, just as Weiss was about to cross the threshold of the academy entrance, an enormous, black blur blocked her field of vision. The Alpha from earlier had found a shortcut and had just leapt down from a stone archway to cut off the heiress's retreat.

THWACK!

Weiss didn't have time to react before the Alpha punched her across the side of her head, sending her tumbling to the floor.

Weiss grit her teeth in frustration as she realised that was twice now, that a simple Beowolf had gotten the jump on her. Rising back up to her feet, Weiss brought up Myrtenaster in front of her, her posture poised and prepped in its usual battle stance as she attempted to drown out the fear coiling and twisting inside her soul, and instead replace it with her usual cold indifference.

" _Stay calm Weiss"_ She told herself " _It's just another Grimm, you are a Schnee and Schnee's are not afraid of anything, especially not a low class Beo…"_

"AAAHHH!"

Weiss had been so caught up in attempting to reel in her turbulent emotions, she had completely forgotten about the other, smaller Grimm that had been chasing after her the entire time.

A fact she deeply regretted after one such Beowolf had taken advantage of her lapse in concentration, to viciously slash at her back with its spear-like claws.

And one misstep lead to another for as she turned around to ward off her attacker, the Alpha shot forward and rather than attempting to attack the heiress, the Alpha instead grabbed the hilt of Weiss's blade and roughly wrenched it out of her grip.

This Grimm wasn't an idiot, it knew these Dustlings were lethal when they had their weapons. But without their weapons, they were as weak as the day they were born.

Weiss's eyes very nearly bugged out of her head as she realised that her trusted sword had just been snatched out of her grasp. The Alpha sneered down at the stunned girl in disgust, before chucking Myrtenaster far away behind it, and grabbing Weiss by the throat and hoisting her up into the air.

The Alpha growled, it's soulless eyes aflame with hatred as they bored into Weiss's ice blue irises. Weiss felt her fear return tenfold as she was once again helpless in the grip of a Wolf Demon, her hands trying desperately to pry the Alphas grip from her throat.

Still holding onto the struggling girl, the Alpha reeled its arm back and threw Weiss at a nearby pillar. The stone practically shattered as Weiss bounced off the pillar, letting out a strangled gasp of pain as she collapsed to the floor. A light blue haze appeared around Weiss's body briefly before fizzling away pathetically.

Her aura was empty.

Her entire body sore and aching, Weiss was slow to get back to a kneeling position. And then she felt her blood turn to ice as she saw she was completely surrounded, nine Beowolves circling around her and the Alpha hanging out at the back, simply watching.

Weiss's mind was in full panic mode and she fought furiously to keep the tears from appearing in her eyes. Despite her best efforts, her mind and body just would not cooperate, and her fear had completely overridden her usually impeccable sense of judgement. All around her, the Grimm stared at her with ravenous hunger in their eyes, drool dripping down from their maws.

Weiss didn't even have the energy to fight back as one Grimm got more eager than the others and stalked closer towards the stricken girl. Weiss shut her eyes tight, refusing to look at the glittering white fangs of the beast above her.

" _So, this is how I fall. Heh, pathetic, some Schnee I turned out to be"_

Weiss did her best to brace for the end as the Beowolf growled above her.

" **GRRRRRRRGG…. HHHHHRRRRRRKKKKKKK"**

And then Weiss heard an odd squelching sound and felt something… wet splatter across her face. Opening her eyes, the heiress looked up in astonishment as she realized her face was mere centimetres away from a long, white claw.

A long, white, bloodied claw that was currently impaled through her aggressor's throat, the Beowolf gurgling as it choked on its own blood.

Directly behind the dying Grimm, a gigantic Alpha stood on its hind legs, it's mask twisted up into inhuman levels of fury as it glared down at the smaller Beast. At first Weiss was beyond confused, her dazed mind struggling to piece together why a Grimm had just killed one of its own.

And then she saw the long, red scar running along its chest, stopping just below its heart.

" _F… Fenrir?!"_

…..

" **DON'T LOOK AT HER, DON'T LOOK AT HER… SHE'S NOT IMPORTANT. NNNNNRRRGRGGGGRGRHHH! KEEP… IT TOGETHER!"**

Fenrir felt like his head was trapped in a vice, his vision foggy and dark. Every last drop of his concentration was being used to not pick up the tiny, female Dustling and smash her head into the pavement.

Focusing his fury, Fenrir hoisted the Wolf up by its neck, black blood dripping down his claws, before pitching the dead body like a javelin at a nearby Grimm, sending both bodies crumpling down to the floor.

The remaining Grimm backed up in surprise, unsure of what to make of what they just witnessed. The older Alpha meanwhile, bristled in rage. It could smell the air around the younger Alpha.

Its scent was tainted.

Fenrir glared at the Grimm present, one still trying to push its dead comrades body off of itself. Eight in total now. The winds whipped at the Alpha's shaggy, soaked, black fur as the storm raged overhead. The Alpha could smell Weiss behind him and it was taking everything in him to keep himself facing forward.

" **STAY… FOCUSED! YOU… ARE HER TO** _ **KILL**_ **… NO, NOT KILL, P…PROTECT HER! STOP THE GRIMM!"**

Tensing his muscles like coiled springs, Fenrir brought his body down low, preparing for a vicious fight. Slowly, the Beowolves shook off their confusion and replaced it with feral anger. A part of Fenrir's mind was still screaming at him that this was wrong, he shouldn't be fighting his own kind.

But he drowned out that voice by focusing on his limitless supply of hatred, and letting it envelop him in its blinding, burning fire.

 **RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!**

With a thunderous, earth-shattering roar, Fenrir charged head-first into the gang of Beowolves and began his slaughter.

As fast as a bullet, Fenrir clenched his jaws down on the neck of the nearest Grimm, instantly crushing the bones in the Wolfs neck and killing it instantly with just jaw strength alone. Still holding the dead wolf in his teeth, Fenrir swung the corpse like a club and slammed it down on another Grimm who had tried to attack him from behind.

Dropping the dead Grimm from his mouth, Fenrir didn't get time to breathe as another Grimm jumped onto his back and sank its fangs into his shoulder. Fenrir exclaimed in pain before reaching behind him to pry the Demon off his back and bring it crashing back down to earth.

Dazed, the Beowolf only had time to look up as Fenrir brought his stocky hindleg down on its head, smashing the skull in a shower of bone and flesh. Spinning on his heel, Fenrir brought his spiked forearm round and drove the long spikes straight through the eye socket of another charging Grimm. Pulling his arm forward, the Alpha followed up with a devastating left cross that destroyed the entire left half of the Grimm's face. One Beowolf had gotten back to its feet and leapt up at the raging Alpha. Fenrir just grabbed it mid-flight, grabbing its upper jaw in his right paw, its lower jaw in his left.

And pulled them in opposite directions with a sickening snap.

CCCRRRRCKKKK!

Fenrir still didn't stop for breath, as another Beowolf took a swipe at his face. The Grimm's claws raked across Fenrir's mask, but it didn't break. That didn't mean Fenrir was any less livid for the attack. Roaring in hatred, Fenrir swiped at the Beowolf's own face with his spear-like claws and completely eviscerated the smaller Wolfs skull, it's tongue falling out of its mouth and falling to the floor, his attack had been _that_ brutal. Wiping his claws and cracking his neck, Fenrir snarled at the remaining Beowolves before resuming his charge.

Weiss could only watch in a strange combination of abject horror and slight awe. Never in her life had she seen so much bloody carnage. She knew the Grimm were vicious creatures, but this was another level of savagery. In the combat ring, Fenrir had always been slow and predictable with his movements, strong but that was it really.

Here though, in his true body, he was practically fluid as he moved from one Grimm to the next.

Fenrir tackled another Grimm to the ground, bringing his paws up above him, before bringing them down on the Grimm's head in a sledgehammer strike, smashing the beasts head into pieces. Turning to his left, Fenrir just about pulled his head back to avoid another sloppy swipe at his head from another Grimm. Grabbing the offending arm, Fenrir brought the arm down, elbow first onto his knee, instantly bending the arm backwards.

The Grimm let out a howl of agony, but even that was cut short as Fenrir violently tore a bone spike out of the smaller wolf's arm and then stabbed the Beowolf with it, straight through the back of his skull. Just as the Alpha got back to his feet, the last remaining Beowolf tried its luck, and chomped down on Fenrir's left hindleg.

Fenrir roared in pain as he felt the tendons in his leg tear as blood spewed from the freshly opened wound. Of course, the pain simply fuelled the raging inferno of fury that blazed within the Alpha. Pivoting round, Fenrir kicked the last remaining Beowolf in the throat, sending it skittering along the floor. Striding over to the Demon, extending his fangs as he went, Fenrir grabbed the Wolf by the throat in his teeth. Fenrir crunched down hard on the struggling wolfs neck, using his arms as a leverage point, before viciously ripping the Grimm's head off its body, sending bone cartilage and blood flying everywhere.

Fenrir spat out the wolfs head and observed the devastation around him. It had been over in a matter of moments, the dead bodies of Grimm littered the ground around him, some already starting to evaporate.

" **PATHETIC, THEY WERE A DISGRACE TO THE NAME GRIMM."**

But it wasn't over yet.

Looking around, Fenrir was greeted with a boulder sized fist slamming into his face and sending him crashing back to the floor.

There was still the Alpha to deal with.

The older Alpha Beowolf had been patient, waiting for the _traitor_ to expend his energy on the smaller Grimm, taking some injuries here and there, before moving in to strike.

A strategy that was already paying off as Fenrir lumbered back to his feet, already starting to pant from exertion. The other Alpha was older than him, that much Fenrir could tell, and when it came to the Grimm, older meant stronger.

As a display of power, the older Alpha roared up to the sky, lightning flying overhead.

" **HHHHRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!"**

Fenrir couldn't stop his natural instincts from causing him to cower slightly at the older males call of intimidation. Again, his inner voice begged him to stop, that this was a fight he couldn't hope to win.

Fenrir shut his eyes as the rain washed down his porcelain mask.

" _ **Weiss, she looked so… scared of me"**_

And then he reopened his eyes and glared in defiance at the older Beast. Rising back on his hind legs, Fenrir stood tall against his opponent. And summoned up every last drop of his anger in his core.

" **RRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Lightning bolts sailed above them.

And the two creatures of Grimm crashed into each other.

Weiss watched on breathlessly as the two beasts clashed in a savage and brutal dance. Claws slashed against each other, fangs were covered in the blood of their opponent, blows were traded back and forth as both monsters were driven to kill each other.

At first the fight was evenly matched, but it soon became apparent that Fenrir was running out of strength. He was starting to tire, his movements slowing down. His opponent meanwhile, capitalised on the younger Alphas fatigue and delivered more and more devastating blows to the other Grimm.

As Fenrir was thrown across the courtyard, Weiss saw something shine in the corner of her vision. Turning to find the source, Weiss saw it was the blade of Myrtenaster, the blade gleaming even in the low light. Weiss was at a crossroads, she could grab her weapon and provide some aid to a clearly struggling Fenrir, but a part of her mind was still weary of the Alpha, about what would happen if she tried to intervene.

" _What if he just tries to kill me again?"_

As Weiss continued her internal struggle, the Older Alpha noticed the heiress steadily rise back to her feet. Looking at his downed opponent, he saw how Fenrir was covered in cuts and bites, blood soaking into his fur, his left eye swollen shut from a particularly devastating right cross.

He wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

The Dustling however, was going to get away.

As Weiss started to limp over to her weapon, she wasn't able to react in time as the Alpha shoved her back down to the ground. Terror struck the heiress once again as blood covered fangs opened up above her and prepared to clench down on her neck.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

A howl of excruciating pain brought her back to reality as she had yet again, just missed the jaws of death. Fenrir had seen the Alpha charge towards Weiss, and without even thinking, dived forwards and shot his right arm forward to block the other Alphas jaws from reaching the white-haired girls throat.

Of course, this now meant that Fenrir's forearm was now in the vice-like grip of the Beowolf.

He both felt as well as heard the bones in his arm snap from the pressure.

The Alpha brought his head around, and once again sent Fenrir flying through the air, blood trailing the ground as he went.

Weiss blinked in shock as the older Alpha, now thoroughly enraged, padded over to the prone Alpha and prepared to finish the job. She processed what Fenrir had just done.

And all at once, all Weiss's doubts and fears washed away like rain on a metal roof, and her face was set in determination.

The older Alpha kicked Fenrir onto his back, leaving Fenrir sprawled out on the floor. Holding him in place with his hindleg, Fenrir could only weakly attempt to push the Alphas leg of his chest with his one functioning paw.

The Alpha raised its fists above it, readying the deathblow.

And then a massive icicle sailed through the air and stabbed the Grimm straight through its hand.

The Alpha cried out in agony as its right hand bled profusely. And then it was sent reeling back as a white blur shot across him and a piece of tempered steel sliced across his face. Looking up in fury, the Alpha spotted the Dustling from before.

Standing tall and proud, all traces of fear gone as she stared down the Grimm with all the force of a blizzard

"Leave, him, alone!"

Fenrir panted and gasped for air as he watched the heiress stand in front of him, as if shielding him.

All at once, Fenrir's eyes blazed with renewed savagery. With shaking muscles, Fenrir got back up to his feet.

" **STAND… UP!"** He screamed in his head **"GET BACK UP… AND FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"**

 **RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

With another ground shaking roar, Fenrir leapt forward with one last desperate charge.

Weiss hot on his heels.

With blistering speeds, Fenrir brought his left fist back and furiously punched the older Alpha across the head. The Alpha attempted to retaliate, but when it brought its fist back to punch Fenrir, its punch instead met solid air as Weiss used a gravity Glyph to stop the Alpha's momentum.

The Alpha exclaimed in pain as it's arm felt as if it had just punched a wall. Fenrir tackled the stunned Alpha to the ground and began furiously waling on the Beast. Blindly, the older Alpha swiped upwards and knocked Fenrir back off him. Yet again however, before the Alpha could gain an advantage, Weiss was in again, hacking and slashing at the Beasts hide with all the grace and form of a dancer.

The Alpha brought a fist up and attempted to crush the infernal Dustling, but just like before Fenrir stepped in, pulling Weiss back out of danger, and then headbutting the Alpha sending bone chips flying everywhere.

In a flash Weiss was back in the fight, sending shock Dust straight through the blade of her weapon as she ran up Fenrir's back.

The older Alpha was then greeted to the sight of an enraged Alpha and a white-haired Huntress bearing down on him. And he felt fear.

Another furious swipe from Fenrir's claws, coupled with a Lightning slash from Myrtenaster sent the older Alpha sprawling across the ruined stone pathway. Feeling his strength starting to wane again, Fenrir ran forward without stopping, fully intending to end the fight _Right now._

Though it caused him unbearable amounts of pain, Fenrir brought his mangled right arm about and grabbed the Alphas upper jaw and held the lower jaw in place with his stronger left arm. The older Alpha began furiously thrashing, trying to escape its fate. But Weiss sealed its doom by using the last of her ice Dust canisters to plunge her blade into the ground and freeze the Grimm's limbs in place.

Using every last fibre in his being, Fenrir roared as he pried the Alphas jaws apart and then pulled them apart further until finally with an echoing…

CCCCRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCKKKK

The Alpha's head was split in half, and it slumped to the floor dead.

For a time, there was silence, the only sounds being Fenrir and Weiss's heavy breathing and the rainwater cascading around them. And then, agonisingly slowly, Fenrir got back up to his feet, threw his head back, and let loose with a victory roar so loud it could be heard across all of Beacon, and reverberated inside Weiss's bones.

 **RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

In that moment, Weiss was yet again left standing in utter awe at the sight before her. Grimm were known throughout history as creatures comprised of pure malice and hatred, but looking up at Fenrir, in this moment.

She bore witness to the very embodiment, of a Grimm's undying rage.

After that, Fenrir slowly turned to face Weiss, anger still smouldering in its lava coloured orbs. At this point Fenrir could barely see at all, could barely even think.

" **DUST…LING! KILL…. THE DUSTLING"**

Before Fenrir could so much as take a step forward however, his injuries and fatigue all came rushing back to him at once. He stumbled, he shuddered, and then his eyes rolled up into his head as he slumped forward and crashed hard against the stone floor. Not long after, Weiss felt her own tiredness kick in as her body finally realised that her aura had been pushed to its limits and with a tad more grace than the Grimm, lay down next to the heavily breathing Alpha, not particularly minding that the floor was wet and muddy.

As her vision started to blur from exhaustion, Weiss could make out faint outlines resembling people running towards them. As the last scraps of consciousness were slowly pulled away from her, Weiss looked up at the massive form of the Injured Beowolf, the beast gasping for air as its now dull red eyes closed shut. Weiss held onto one last thought, before she slipped away into unconsciousness.

" _Please… be OK… Fenrir"._

 **A/N: And there we go, another long one for you boys and girls and by far and away, the most fun I have had writing a chapter since ever. This one seriously was a blast for me and I wait eagerly to see what you guys thought of it. Next chapter will be relatively shorter than this one but will serve as a kind of epilogue to this whole arc, before we move on to the next big event. Also, one of the complaints that I have heard levied at this show multiple times that has actually stuck with me, is that the Grimm are rarely seen as a threat.**

 **Well I'm gonna do my best to change that. In this story the Grimm are going to be pure savagery incarnate, and that change starts with Fenrir himself.**

 **See you soon guys.**


	18. Chapter 18:Out of shadow into light

**A/N: So, this chapters gonna be a little shorter than the last one, but this is essentially the epilogue to this little Arc so I guess that's to be expected. Anyway, I'll have more to say at the end so enjoy the chapter.**

When Ozpin finally arrived at the entrance to his Academy, the last few bodies of the fallen Grimm nearly completely evaporated and looked down at the two unconscious forms of the young heiress and the bloodied Beowolf, he could only let out a tired sigh of both exhaustion and relief.

For the final leg of the journey, the old headmaster hadn't even needed to use his scroll to find the Grimmborn.

He'd just followed the roars.

" _Well I suppose this is the best outcome I could have hoped for regarding the situation"_ Ozpin thought to himself as he knelt down beside the unconscious Alpha, black smoke starting to rise off his body as his form started to shrink and dissolve. _"Though, I imagine Port won't be overly pleased when he finds out all of his Grimm have been killed. Oh well."_

Looking at the two, Ozpin quickly concluded that Fenrir was in far worse shape. Weiss's aura was completely empty, and a bruise was starting to form on her back from where she had been chucked at a pillar earlier. Fenrir meanwhile, was covered in scratch and bite marks, his right arm particularly was perforated and bent at a nasty angle.

And the worst part was, these wounds were still present even after the Grimm had reverted back to his Faunus form. It was strange, his clothes were entirely intact, but the steadily flowing blood seeping out from underneath the jacket sleeves, told Ozpin that his injuries were still very much there.

From behind him, Ozpin caught the hurried pants of the remaining members of team RWBY, the three girls hot on the headmaster's tail for the final leg of the journey. Ruby, the second she got her breath back, immediately zeroed in on her unconscious partner and zipped over to her side.

"Weiss!" She yelled in alarm "Weiss are you alive?"

"She's breathing Ruby" Blake spoke in a placating tone in an attempt to calm her panicked leader "She's fine, just unconscious".

Ozpin hummed to himself, bringing his scroll up in front of him to call for the school nurse to come to his location immediately.

"Woah" Yang, almost silently, walked up beside the crouching older man and looked down at the beaten-up wolf Faunus, miniscule rivers of blood running down from a cut across his forehead.

"What happened to him?" She questioned aloud.

"He got in a fight" Ozpin stated very matter-of-factly "And judging from the smoking corpses surrounding us, I think its fair to assume he won, despite his injuries".

Yang didn't know what to say to that information, so she instead kept silent as she watched the last Beowolf fade away into black mist.

As Ozpin instructed her younger sister to take Weiss to the infirmary, stating that she was in a more stable condition and that Fenrir's arm needed to be tended to before he could be moved anywhere, Yang once again felt a tiny spike of regret nestle in the back of her skull as she looked down at the steadily growing puddle of blood spreading out from underneath Fenrir's arm.

She could still see, vividly in her head the look of abject horror on the black and blue haired teenagers face when she had told him what had happened to Weiss and how he had cradled his head in his hands as if there was a war raging inside mind.

" _He put his body through this much pain, just to help her"_

Whilst Yang's mind continued to swirl in self conflict, Ozpin adjusted the unconscious Alpha's arm into a position that would limit the amount of blood leaking out from the moderately sized bite marks.

Despite the overall tense atmosphere surrounding the area, the tired headmaster couldn't help a small smile gracing his features as he stared down at the Grimm in disguise.

" _I was starting to worry about you Mr Lupus. But it looks like things are already starting to change for the better"._

…..

 _The Grimm was once again falling through a long, black abyss, the pain of an open chest wound lancing across his body as he saw his own, blackened blood sail through the air._

 _Below him, the Alpha could make out the murky, greenish glow of the liquid dust pit rising up rapidly to meet him. He hit the liquidised Dust with an audible smack and slowly sank to the rocky floor below._

 _The Alpha Beowolf looked around the small pit he was submerged in, in the back of his mind wondering why he hadn't started transforming already. And then as he looked up above him, he started to make out a small dark sillohuete hurtling towards him._

 _The Grimm's eyes widened in terror as he realised that the shadow rocketing towards him was in the shape of a female Dustling._

 _Wielding a massive, gleaming Scythe._

 _SCHWING!_

"HAARRRGGGHHH!"

For a second time, Fenrir shot up from a hospital bed, claws and fangs extended and sweat running down his forehead as he shot his head all around the room. After a second though, he let out an exclamation of pain and crashed back down on the stiff, clinical mattress.

A dull ache vibrated consistently from his right arm. Looking down at the offending limb, Fenrir was confused to discover that his entire forearm was wrapped up in bandages. A small, see-through tube was poking out from in-between the wrappings and following the tube with his eyes, Fenrir saw the tube was connected to some strange machine.

Mind in a panicked daze, Fenrir moved to rip the tube from out of his arm. He was stopped however, by the sudden appearance of a familiar silver cane resting atop his limb.

"I wouldn't remove that if I were you, your aura still hasn't completely recovered from your transformation and you risk re-opening your wounds if you detach yourself from the machine right this second"

The Alpha let the brief instance of shock and surprise course through his body like an electric shock, before scowling disdainfully up at the grey-haired headmaster, again looking far too amused for the Beowolf's liking.

Removing his cane from the Grimm's arm, Ozpin strode over to Fenrir's side and smiled softly at the perplexed Grimm.

" _I looked round the whole room"_ Fenrir grumbled in his mind _"He must be able to turn invisible or something, because otherwise HOW AM I NOT SENSING THIS GUY!"_

"How are you feeling?" Ozpin questioned quietly

Fenrir, his strength slowly returning, sat back up on the side of the mattress, shaking his head to stave off the oncoming migraine that he knew was coming.

"…Tired"

Ozpin nodded to himself as Fenrir stared down in a kind of morbid curiosity at the plain white wrappings adorning his right arm. Grimm generally just let any injuries they acquired from battle heal naturally, so this kind of forced, rapid healing was strangely fascinating to him.

"How long… was I out… this time?" He questioned

"Only a few hours this time around" Ozpin responded, "It's the evening right now, if you'd waken up a few minutes earlier, you would have caught me having to forcibly evict team RWBY from the infirmary, they seemed quite adamant on not leaving".

At the mention of team RWBY, a rush of memories came surging to the forefront of the Grimm's mind. In an instant he recalled vividly, just why he had transformed in the first place.

" _The storm…"_

" _The fight with the Beowolves…"_

" _The other Alpha…"_

"Weiss!"

Like a rocket, Fenrir stood up, nearly ripping the sensitive medical equipment from his arm as his eyes darted around the infirmary, frantically searching for any sign of the white-haired heiress.

" _I passed out before she did. Where is she?!"_

Fenrir was brought out of his panicked state by the feeling of a firm yet gentle hand grasping his shoulder. Looking behind him, Fenrir saw the older man still held a small smile on his face as he attempted to calm the dark haired Beowolf.

"Miss Schnee is fine Mr Lupus. Aside from some light bruising and mild Aura fatigue, there is nothing physically to be concerned about. In fact, you've taken more damage than her, yet surprisingly you were the first to awaken"

At this, Ozpin gestured to a small bed that was to the immediate right of Fenrir's own. Looking down, Fenrir felt a wave of relief wash over him as there, sleeping quite peacefully and very much alive, was Weiss.

Unconsciously, the Grimm let out a quiet sigh of relief and Ozpin observed as the younger mans shoulders sagged slightly as they released their tension. Only for that tension to come back a second later as the Alpha's jaw locked up and his dark blue eyes hardened as he continued to stare down at the unconscious heiress.

"Did… did I do… anything to her?" The Grimm asked with an almost fearful look in his eyes.

"Not this time no" Ozpin offered comfortingly "I must admit even I feared the worst when you transformed. But it seems this time around at least, you were able to keep control of yourself".

Frowning lightly, Fenrir returned to a seated position on his mattress.

"It… wasn't easy" He muttered "My head… felt like… It was being crushed… I could… barely think."

Shutting his eyes and growling in aggravation, Fenrir was hit with another wave of memories, these ones much more unpleasant than the last.

The memory of his claws and teeth, drenched in the blood of his kin. _Of his own._

"I… killed Grimm. Grimm… don't kill… other Grimm. That… is not our… way".

Ozpin absorbed the midnight-haired teens words, before standing back up to his full height and striding towards the infirmary door.

"Yes, I imagine that was unpleasant for you. But at times like this its important for you to not focus on the negatives. Instead think of it this way, you saved Weiss and now you have been presented with an opportunity to make amends for your past misgivings".

Fenrir still didn't look convinced as he continued to stare down at the floor. So, just before he left the Wolf to his thoughts, Ozpin offered one last piece of advice.

"Try to let it go Mr Lupus. Life is filled with choices we would rather not have to make, how we choose to deal with those choices after they are decided, is what defines us as people. Get some rest Mr Lupus, we'll see how your condition has improved tomorrow morning."

And with those final words, Ozpin departed the infirmary and left Fenrir with only deafening silence and an unconscious Schnee for company. Every now and then, Fenrir would flex and tense his right arm in an attempt to stave off the numbness provided by… whatever was being fed into his arm by that machine.

" _Let it go… as easy as that huh Ozpin. Sure, I'll just forget that I essentially just betrayed my entire species and committed the greatest crime a Grimm can make."_

Fenrir wasn't left in silence for long however, as not a few minutes of pondering later, Weiss started to stir from her slumber. Fenrir's ears twitched as he caught her quiet mumbles as Weiss slowly came back to the realm of consciousness, and irrational fear gripped his mind like a Nevermore's talons. Vaulting over the side of his bed, Fenrir crouched down and attempted to be as still as possible.

" _What if nothings changed?! She could still fear me! What do I do?!"_

Before he could get an answer to these questions, he heard Weiss sit up and he actually held his breath, hoping that maybe she wouldn't see him.

A foolish hope really.

"You know, hiding doesn't really do you a whole lot of good if I can still see your ears".

Fenrir winced as he looked up and confirmed that yes, his lupine ears were poking out from above the mattress. Realising there was no point in trying to stay hidden, Fenrir slowly crawled back up onto the mattress, keeping his body as low as possible in an attempt to look less threatening to the girl.

Weiss felt herself tense up as she saw the Beowolf in disguise rise up from underneath the infirmary bed, his eyes glowing a deep blue in the low, night time light as they stared straight at her. But two things stopped from being straight up afraid of the Grimm; one, his arm was wrapped up in bandages and attached to an Aura rejuvenator, meaning he still hadn't fully recovered from his battle with the other Alpha.

The other thing, he appeared to look just as wary as Weiss felt, his ears and tail twitching in agitation and once on top of his mattress, he didn't move a single inch more.

For a solid minute, the two stared at each other in awkward silence, before Fenrir couldn't hold it any longer and looked off to the side and tried to kickstart his brain into saying something, anything.

Weiss however, took note of the Grimm's consistently twitching and tensing right arm and decided to start up the conversation herself.

"That's where the Alpha bit you. Does it still hurt?"

Fenrir blinked, realising Weiss was in fact talking to him. Looking down at the offending limb, Fenrir shook his head and forced his line of sight to return to the heiress.

"I'm fine…you?"

Weiss looked down at herself and examined her body. Whilst she was doing this, Fenrir took the opportunity to lightly probe at Weiss's emotional state. Physically he could tell she was fine, but he sensed there was still discord in her mind.

"Annoyed" Weiss muttered, her face scrunching up into one of irritation as she finished surveying herself.

Fenrir started tensing up again, fearful of why exactly she was annoyed.

"Those Grimm completely got the jump on me. My performance was nothing short of shameful in that fight. I was distracted and sloppy, really how can I hope to be a huntress if I can allow myself to be taken down by a few low class Beowolves. I clearly need to train more"

Fenrir stared down at his boots, shaming snaking its way into his brain. Weiss was right of course, she had been completely overpowered before Fenrir showed up. But deep down he knew why Weiss hadn't been able to fight on her top form.

" _It's my fault. She couldn't focus because of what I did. I damaged her, and it nearly cost her her life"_

" _But now, you can fix it"_ That soft voice whispered in his head once more.

And this time… he was willing to listen, he was willing to do something no Grimm had ever done.

Weiss looked back up and frowned as she saw the Grimm appearing to be burning a hole into the ground, his face marred with conflict.

"Uhhh… Fe…"

"I'm sorry!"

"…"

"…"

"What?"

Weiss had to take a moment to reorient herself with reality, surely, she must have imagined Fenrir saying… whatever it was he just said.

But as he looked back up at the white-haired Huntress, his teeth grit in frustration, she realised he was being deadly serious.

"I… scared you… you nearly died because… of me. I didn't… mean for that… to happen. I… I just got… so angry and… I am sorry."

Finishing this painful statement, Fenrir turned away again and stewed in his growing ire. As much as he had wanted to clear the air with Weiss, his Grimm pride felt like it had just been split in half.

Admitting that he was at fault, to a human no less, it truly felt like now he had officially betrayed everything he stood for.

" _Seventeen years of devoting myself to the Grimm cause, 'her' cause, just to throw it all away in just a few months. Oum's mane I truly have cracked haven't I."_

So, lost in his own musings, Fenrir very nearly missed Weiss's response to his tortured apology.

"I wasn't that scared you know".

Fenrir snapped his head up to face Weiss so quickly he nearly gave himself whiplash. The look in his eyes told Weiss he didn't believe her for even a second. Even she admitted in her mind that what she said was a blatant lie, the second it came out her mouth.

But Fenrir wasn't the only one with stubbornness issues.

"But…" She continued "You did… startle me, I had no idea you were a Beowolf, so yeah that was a little surprising. But at any rate it's fine now, you helped me out with those other Grimm today so, in the end it all balances, out right?"

Fenrir didn't quite follow the girl's logic, but her emotional state told him all he needed to know.

Where he was concerned, there was no more negative emotion in the heiress's mind.

Weiss stood up and walked up to the Faunus. Fenrir backed up to the edge of his mattress, still on all fours, and tensed back up, unsure of what Weiss was trying to do. But then, she just held out her small, ladylike hand towards the Grimm.

"What happened between us was… unpleasant, and I think we both would rather just pretend it never happened. So that's just what we're going to do. From now on lets just try to go back to the way things were before".

Weiss spoke with complete authority in her voice, as if she was leaving no room for Fenrir to even argue her point.

" _So, this is that 'Weiss the ice queen' Ruby kept telling me about"_

Despite not being given much of a choice in the matter, Fenrir couldn't help but be impressed by Weiss's resolve. There was no dishonesty at play here, it seemed she really had gotten over her fear of him.

" _That tells me much of her character. Grimm admire strength in all its forms"._

So, with that settled, Fenrir took Weiss's hand in his larger one and firmly shook it, that same, low warmth nestling snugly in the depths of his core.

"That sounds… nice"

"Good" Weiss nodded "Now with that settled, I'm still a little drained from today. I'm probably just gonna stay here for the night".

"Yeah… same".

With nothing more to say, Weiss retreated back to her bed and lay down. Fenrir simply stared forward at nothing for a few moments, allowing himself time to process what just happened.

" _That… worked out better than I could have hoped. Huh, looks like my luck is starting to change"_

So, with his mind a little more at ease than it had been before, Fenrir lay himself down on the stiff bed. The moment his head hit the pillow, Fenrir felt like a ton of bricks had just been settled on his brain and within moments, was back in the realm of slumber.

…

Weiss woke up a few hours later. Nothing specific roused her awake, it was just one of those random moments anyone had during the middle of the night.

Though, looking at her scroll revealed it was more the early hours of the morning as opposed to the middle of the night.

All was quiet in the empty infirmary, the only source of light being the rays of moonlight bleeding in through the only window in the place. Next to her, Weiss could make out the faint, low and deep breaths of the sleeping Beowolf as he lay splayed out on top of his bed sheets.

" _Well, at least he's not a snorer like Yang"_

Now that she was awake, the heiress decided to stretch her legs for a spell and walk around the small room.

A lot had happened in the past twenty-four hours, even now she still hadn't fully processed it all. When that Beowolf had been leering down at her, ready to devour her whole, she had felt only resignation and shame, not the cold, drowning fear she had felt when _he_ had done the exact same thing not a few weeks before.

" _Maybe, it's because that time, I knew the person who was attacking me. Thought I knew them anyway."_

And then, just when it seemed she would meet her end, her tormentor had charged forward and had…

Shielded her.

A low grunt broke the silence, as Fenrir shifted on his bed and then stilled again. Looking down at him now, despite the fact that now she knew what was really under the surface of the grumpy teen, all she could see was a young man, who apparently frowned even whilst he was sleeping.

" _Just another Faunus."_

Eventually, Weiss turned to stare out the single glass window in the infirmary and gaze up at the broken moon as it and its fragments hung in the inky black sky.

When she was younger, Weiss had always found the night to be a relaxing time to 'practise' so to speak. Since coming to Beacon however, she had curbed her habit in favour of not disturbing her teammates.

Now though… well, it didn't look like the Grimm would be waking up anytime soon if his deep, rumbling breaths were anything to go by.

" _Oh, why not. I might not get another chance like this again. Besides, it's important that I keep all my skills sharp, even ones not related to combat"_

So, with that, Weiss started to gently hum under her breath. Eventually, once she was sure her vocal chords were nice and warmed up, she started to sing a slow, somewhat sad melody.

Completely unaware of how Fenrir's ears started to twitch the second Weiss opened her mouth.

" _It starts"_

" _With the unexpected loss"_

" _Of something dear"_

" _The warmth"_

" _That comforted and cradled"_

" _Just dissa…"_

"What are you doing?"

It took all of Weiss's iron-clad constitution to not leap several feet into the air as the silence was unceremoniously broken by the very gruff tones of the Beowolf. Turning on her heel, the heiress saw Fenrir sitting up and looking at her with a very puzzled expression, his ears twitching forward towards her and eyes glowing that same dark blue that stood out against the darkness of the room.

" _Ok, so he's actually a very light sleeper. Of course,"._

"Apologies Fenrir" Weiss said in attempt to salvage some of her dignity "I thought you were asleep".

"I was" Fenrir responded bluntly.

"…Oh".

The atmosphere got more awkward with every passing second. Weiss made to go back to her bed and potentially just bury herself under her thin duvet.

But Fenrir was curious now.

"What… were you doing… with your voice?"

On the word voice, Fenrir pointed at his own throat. Seeing how he wouldn't be satisfied until she gave some form of answer, Weiss opted to just give a quick explanation and then go to sleep as quick as possible.

"I was… singing" Weiss muttered.

"Singing?"

Weiss huffed "It's a human thing. You wouldn't get it."

Fenrir's brow furrowed at that as he continued to stare at the smaller girl.

"It… sounded like… howling to me"

"Well" Weiss replied, "It's kind of like that, only instead of just one note, it changes with different levels and uses words, not just sounds".

Fenrir processed this new information, before turning back to his bedside neighbour with a new question.

"Why… I mean why do it? …Are you calling… for your pack?"

Fenrir didn't realise just how loaded that question was, and Weiss had to take a second to pull her mind away from… unwanted thoughts.

"No, its… it's just something we do for fun".

" _Well, supposed to be fun anyway"_ She thought darkly.

"…Fun"

That was both a word and concept that was as foreign to the Grimm as having to eat and sleep on a daily basis. Life wasn't fun, it was a constant war and if you faltered for even a second, the world wouldn't hesitate to devour you.

" _Warriors shouldn't have time for fun"_

Regardless, Fenrir started to pick up on the steadily rising embarrassment coming off his conversation partner. Probing a little deeper, Fenrir noticed a black… spot swirling around Weiss's very soul. A well of negative energy that had existed there like a tumour for _years_ and buried deep down by many mental walls.

And that was as far down as Fenrir dared to travel down that road. Something in his mind told him this was a side of Weiss he was not allowed to see, that he should leave it alone.

" _For now, at least"_ That soft voice whispered in the back of his skull.

Thinking of a way to steer the conversation back to a more positive angle, to get rid of that negative well that he was having a hard time not looking at now, Fenrir decided to be bold and make a request of the heiress.

After all, while it had woken him up, Weiss's voice hadn't been… unpleasant to listen to.

"You… You can carry on if you want… I won't say anything… if you don't want… me too"

Weiss blinked owlishly at the larger Grimm.

"I thought you were trying to sleep?"

Fenrir shook his head, "I'm awake now… it will be a while… before I drift off… again… and I'm curious… about this singing".

With that, Fenrir crossed his arms behind his head and laid back on his bed to stare up at the ceiling. Staring at the Alpha for a moment to see if he was serious, Weiss turned to stare back in front of her and after a few seconds of pregnant silence, resumed her slow, sorrowful tune.

While it first, it was tough for Weiss to get back into the rhythm of the song, knowing that the Grimm next to her was wide awake and listening intently, eventually she found her drive once again and sung with all the intensity and passion of a professional opera singer.

Fenrir listened and as the song carried on, he found himself getting steadily more invested in the girl's words. Eventually his head and ears had fully turned to stare at the unaware Heiress, his eyes widened, and his mouth hung agape as he lay in awe of just what he was witnessing.

This quiet passion, it reminded him of when he had listened to Blake read aloud from one of her many books. And he was completely entranced.

Soon though [Far too soon for the Grimm's liking] the song ended, and Weiss let out one last exhale of breath before checking to see if Fenrir was still awake, only to find him staring at her with a dumbstruck look in his eyes.

Letting out a tiny cough, Weiss moved to lay back on her lumpy mattress and attempt to go back to sleep. Just before she drifted back to the realm of unconsciousness, she heard Fenrir make one last comment.

"You… have a very nice howl".

Weiss felt an odd sense of bemusement at that statement but turning to look at the Grimm revealed that he had already turned his back on her and had crashed hard against his pillow.

Still, in the solitude of the night, she allowed a small smile to grace her features.

"Thanks Fenrir".

…..

Fenrir unravelled the last strip of medical cloth from around his forearm and took a look at his limb for the first time since yesterday. Ozpin had arrived earlier that morning [Weiss having long since left apparently] And informed him of his condition. In short, his injuries had healed, and his aura was back up to full strength.

But, some injuries are so severe, that even aura cannot fully heal them. A fact Fenrir was made fully aware of when he took a good look at his arm and saw several small tooth marks dotted across the pale flesh, aligned in the shape of a wolfs jaw.

Marks from where the Alpha had chomped down on his limb and shattered the bone underneath. There was no doubt, these scars were permanent and would serve as a reminder to the Beowolf of how he had once again, come so close to meeting his death.

And Fenrir stared down at the tiny bite marks, with a small smirk on his face as his chest swelled with pride. For the Grimm, scars were the ultimate badges of honour. It showed other Grimm that you had seen bloody battle, experienced true combat, and even if you hadn't won the encounter, you had survived it.

Turning around to grab his leather jacket off the bedpost, Fenrir caught the sight of the headmaster staring at him with a somewhat pensive look in his eyes. Checking over the jacket to make sure it wasn't in any worse condition than it already had been, Fenrir continued to side-eye the older man, just waiting for another question to be volleyed at him by Ozpin.

Finally, the grey-haired man spoke up after a solid minute of silence.

"So, what will you do now Mr Lupus?".

Fenrir frowned in confusion, "What… now?".

"I think by this point we can say that we more or less know how your transformation works now. Get your Aura low and your emotional state high and you revert back to your true form. With time and training, you could learn to forcibly lower your Aura without having to injure yourself and potentially, stay in your Beowolf form without ever having to revert back to your Human body. That is why you initially came to Beacon is it not? To find a way to rid yourself of this 'Affliction'".

Fenrir stared out the window as the early morning sun bled through the thin glass, as he realised that Ozpin was right. He had his answers, why he now had a Human body, how the transformation worked, he had even been able to keep a small modicum of control the second time around. Looking at it logically, there was really no reason for him to stay. If anything, leaving would be ideal, most of the student body flat out despised him, and he didn't think very highly of them in return. Looking back, the past several weeks had been nothing short of tedious and painful for the Grimm.

And yet, one thing kept Fenrir from just straight up leaving then and there.

Well two things, but Ozpin didn't need to know about the second one. _No one did._

Fenrir looked at the Headmaster of Beacon, an expectant look was all he received in return. Fenrir frowned as his head slowly dipped down to stare at his hands.

Even now, he could still picture the blackish-red blood of his kin staining his ivory white claws.

" _I am a killer of my own people. There is no place in all of Remnant fit for a Grimm who has slain other Grimm."_

"I… am a traitor" Fenrir spoke with a grimace "There… is nowhere… for me to go… my own kind… would slaughter me… if they found out… what I did".

Ozpin remained silent for a moment, before responding to the Grimm's statement.

"So, you wish to remain here?"

"… I have no choice"

Ozpin moved then, placing a comforting hand on the Alpha's shoulder. Fenrir immediately tensed up and flinched backwards, a low warning growl unconsciously bubbling away in the back of his throat.

"There is always a choice Mr Lupus. That is the one luxury we humans have always been grateful for. Our free will. And now that choice can belong to you as well. This is not the curse you think it is Mr Lupus, I hope one day you come to realise that."

Fenrir only scoffed lightly.

" _What would Humans know about freedom. There the ones who choose to hide behind walls of stone and metal. They relish in their confinements, and it shall destroy them."_

"At any rate, if your intention is indeed to stay at my school, then you had best head back to your room quickly, classes will be starting soon. It's important for a young man such as yourself to get the best education he can in order to prepare himself for the future".

And with that, Ozpin turned and left the infirmary. Waiting until he was sure the headmaster couldn't see him, Fenrir rolled his eyes at Ozpins comments about getting a good education. Because that really mattered to the giant Wolf demon who could split a human skull in half with one hand.

Regardless he elected to heed the Headmasters advice and grab his stuff and return back to the academy proper.

If for no other reason than to get out of this boring, small room.

….

The morning had been one long slog for the Beowolf. Just as before, a constant barrage of negative energy assaulted the Grimm's mind wherever he went. If anything, it seemed as if it had intensified.

Fenrir had a pretty good idea why that was the case. It most likely had to do with the Grimm breakout that had occurred just the other day. Seeing as he was the only Grimm still alive after the whole ordeal, they probably blamed him for the Beowolves running loose in the first place.

" _Whatever gets them to sleep at night I suppose"_

Soon enough, lunchtime rolled around once again, and Fenrir made his way through the packed hallways towards the cafeteria, his body running on autopilot as his mind was elsewhere.

Or it was until he was brought out of his musings by a very obnoxious yell.

"HEY! Monster, where'd you think you're going"

Shoving his way through the crowd, that same third-year from a few days ago strode up to Fenrir and actually attempted to shove him. Fenrir didn't budge, but that didn't stop him from letting out an aggravated sigh that quickly devolved into a menacing growl.

" _Not you again!"._

"What's wrong freak, you look upset" The third year goaded the Beowolf "Is it because your buddies didn't kill us like you hoped they would?"

Fenrir observed through his peripherals as the students in the hallway just stood and watched as this idiot continued to pester him. All the while, those tiny pricks of negativity continued to gnaw at the back of his mind.

"That… wasn't me" Fenrir snarled, his patience already wearing thin.

The third year in turn simply scoffed "Yeah sure it wasn't. Well, now that you've seen that that's not gonna work, I want you to remember this Grimm. Try anything, and I mean anything like this again, I don't care what Ozpin or any of the teachers say, you'll be put down like the rabid dog you are"

The smug third year got right up in Fenrir's face and spoke with pure venom in his voice.

"And trust me Grimm, no one would care if you died. They're just waiting for you to snap again so they can kill you themselves. So, watch your back **Mutt** "

Fenrir's arms started to shake as his anger threatened to boil over. His mind was filled with sadistic visions of just picking up this miserable heap of **Dustling Waste** and tearing him apart until he was nothing but tiny, bloody pieces.

But, like a cooling wave of water washing over his body, the soft, melodic voice that had followed him since day one, rang loud in his raging mind.

" _Don't rise up to him. You'll just give him what he wants."_

So, with one long huff of air, Fenrir grabbed the smaller male by his shirt collar and shoved him roughly to one side. Taking one last look around himself at the people sneering and glaring at him, Fenrir let out a low hiss and stormed off with his hands tucked into his jacket pockets, to hide the fact that they were shaking.

"I… don't have time for this!" Fenrir spoke through gritted teeth

"Watch your back Grimm!" That same third year called out, apparently not learning his lesson from how Fenrir had basically just picked him up with one arm and chucked him to one side "We're coming for you! It's just a matter of time!"

Fenrir didn't even look behind him.

Not long after, the still fuming Alpha arrived at the cafeteria. Abandoning all sense of Decorum, Fenrir shoved past everyone already standing in the line, grabbed a tray, snatched fistfuls of stuff that he assumed was food and went to go find his usual table, tucked away in the corner of the room.

On the way, Fenrir caught sight of the table that seated team RWBY, the four girls yet again conversing amongst themselves as normal. Once again, Fenrir felt that tiny pull in the back of his mind compelling him to join the table that potentially housed the only people in this whole school who didn't outright hate him.

Yet again however, Fenrir shook away the thought with a shake of his head, huffed, and carried on the way he was going, his boots thudding against the stone floor.

" _Don't bother them. You're better off alone"_

"Hey! Fenrir, over here!"

The Alpha froze in place, his head turning almost robotically to face the direction of where the voice had just come from. As he expected, Ruby had been the one who had called out to him. What he hadn't expected was the rest of team RWBY looking at him as well, expectant looks on their faces.

For one, irrational moment, Fenrir feared that maybe these four were going to threaten and demean him like that other student had. But then that moment passed as Ruby called out to him again.

"Come on, there's an empty spot here and the others haven't turned up yet".

Now Fenrir was just confused. There was something going on here, surely there must be.

"Come on man you haven't exactly been subtle about wanting to sit over here" Yang blurted out, a cocky grin on her face that completely contrasted with her expression the last time the two had talked. "I swear, all of us have at least once caught you looking over this way, not that we blame you of course, we are pretty amazing."

Fenrir's lupine ears flattened against his head as the girls revealed just how much he'd been caught out.

" _And here I'd thought I'd been stealthy"_

Turning to look at Blake, the bow-wearing Faunus simply offered him a shrug and a quiet "It's up to you", the tiniest of grins on her otherwise blank face.

Finally, Fenrir looked at Weiss, whom he hadn't seen since last night. The Heiress actually looked mildly annoyed as she stared up at the large Beowolf in disguise.

"Your going to make a line if you just stand there, are you going to come sit down or not?"

Her words had been harsh, but the softened look in her eyes told Fenrir a different story. The final nail in the coffin for Fenrir was when he searched out for any negative energy coming off the four girls, still not sure whether this was just some kind of trap. To his surprise, he found none.

They genuinely wanted him to join them at their table.

Fenrir felt his breath hitch in his chest at that realisation.

A few moments passed, and Ruby started to worry that maybe this had been a bit to forward of them, the Grimm looked like he was on the verge of bolting again.

And then his legs twitched, and his boots subtly started to turn towards them.

And then he took one, tentative step forwards.

And then another.

And then he broke out into a brisk walk as he made his way quickly towards the four. Around him, Fenrir picked out the hurried whispers of students sitting down at their tables, wondering just what he was doing. But the Alpha couldn't care less about what they thought.

As he finally found himself inches away from that same empty spot on the table that had tormented for so long, Fenrir felt the need to ask once again.

"This… this is… Okay right?" He hated the way his voice had sounded so unsure just then

"We wouldn't have invited you over here if it wasn't" Yang said, "Now come on, quit gawking and sit down you big grump".

Despite how tense he felt, Fenrir couldn't help but frown at that last part.

"I am… not a grump" He grumbled

Yang just sniggered in response "Yeah, that's what all grumps say"

"Yeah" Ruby chirped "Just ask Weiss".

"Hey!"

As the group started to bicker good naturedly amongst themselves, Fenrir could only observe in astonishment. And then he felt that soft warmth start to wrap around his core again and nestle in his chest. Except this time, it was stronger, actually causing his lips to wobble and twitch for whatever reason.

Once he got over… whatever that was, Fenrir sat himself down next to the silver eyed girl and joined in on their discussion as to who was and who was not a certified 'grump'.

On that day, Fenrir Lupus took his first steps out of the shadows.

And into the light.

 **A/N: Finally got this done. So now that this little arcs all nice and wrapped up, next chapters gonna be a nice big slice of life chapter like chapter 11, in which Fenrir will be trying to reintegrate himself back into his group of friends. Like before, if you guys have any suggestions as to what kind of high jinks Mr Beowolf could get into, I would be happy to hear them.**

 **After that, we'll actually move back into the canon stuff for the first time in what feels like forever with 'Jaunedice'. That'll be interesting.**

 **Finally, here's the last of the images regarding Fenrir's appearance. For the rest of the images, look at chapters 6/7 and 12. In the meantime, see you next chapter guys.**

 **Eyes: .**

 **Eyes [Grimm]: pin/520588038153001647/**

 **Claws: .nz/pin/862369028617020658**

 **Fangs: pin/543598617509821280/**

 **Hair colour pattern: pin/277745501994320350/**


	19. Chapter 19:Bonding with your Grimm

**A/N: So, this is another bridge chapter, before we get back to the canon events of volume 1 and the action kicks off again. Also, we've reached 100'000 words which officially makes this the longest thing I have ever written, yay me. Also, because links on this site are just determined to not work for me, just type in "Dark blue eyes, men" in google and you'll get the idea of Fenrir's normal eye colour.**

 **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS AT THE END, DON'T MISS IT.**

 _Monday_

When Fenrir woke up on that morning, the air chilled by the early spring winds drafting in through his open window, he awoke feeling… oddly itchy for some reason. Sitting up on his bed, Fenrir took a moment to stretch his body and loosen up his sleepy muscles.

It had been a few days since the Beowolf finally worked up the nerve to seat himself next to the group of females that he had initially gone out of his way to avoid.

Team RWBY.

Ever since the Grimm outbreak, those four had become strangely welcoming towards him. And he hadn't been the only one who had noticed. As much as he had tried to block out the hushed conversations that had swirled around him in the cafeteria, his ears had betrayed him, and he had not liked what he'd heard.

" _What's that Grimm think he's doing?"_

" _Why is he talking with those first years?"_

" _More to the point, why are they speaking to it? Do they not know who he is?"_

" _They must be too scared to move"_

" _No look, they're smiling. Don't tell me they're okay with him being there?!"_

The various conversations had carried on like this for the rest of the day. And as the week carried on, the rumours and whispers only grew more and more fervent. Some suspected that the Alpha was tricking the young girls, luring them into a false sense of security, before attacking them when they least expected it.

Another group suspected it was the other way around, that actually team RWBY was baiting the Beowolf into thinking that they were his one safe haven in a school filled to the brim with hostility towards him, before getting the drop on him.

Whatever the reason, all four of them were now under the same, scrutinizing gaze that he was. That thought caused Fenrir to feel somewhat troubled. He didn't care about what the students thought of him, but the thought of those four potentially getting dragged down with him… was not a pleasant thing for Fenrir to think about.

Letting out a long, low yawn, Fenrir reached up a hand to scratch at the strange itch that continued to persist on the lower half of his face.

And froze in place as he realised that his jaw felt strangely _fuzzy._ Bringing up both hands to feel his face, his eyes widened as he realised the entirety of his jawline, chin and upper lip were covered in tiny, tough bristles.

Panic spread through Fenrir's whole being as his mind raced to every possible worse-case scenario.

" _Is it wearing off?! Am I changing back? I'm not even angry, I don't understand!"_

Striding over to a full body mirror that he'd recovered from underneath a pile of junk during his cleaning session weeks back, Fenrir stared in shock at the sight of his face in the dirty glass. The entire lower part of his face was covered in patches of tiny, black hairs that were coarse and prickly to the touch.

It didn't feel like his old fur, but it was still enough to cause the Alpha to start wringing his hands in steadily rising alarm. Rushing over to his desk, Fenrir yanked open a drawer and retrieved his scroll. After the incident with the other Grimm, Professor Ozpin had given the Beowolf his contact information, so Fenrir could call him, "In case of emergencies" as Ozpin had put it.

" _Well considering my face is covered in small fibres, I'd say this counts as an emergency"_

Not wasting any time, Fenrir flicked through his mostly blank scroll and quickly found Ozpin's number. He hoped that the older man would be able to offer him some solution to this alarming turn of events.

…..

Ozpin was a very calm and collected individual. He had seen much in his long, **long** life and not to sound arrogant, but he figured there was very little that could faze him nowadays.

So, it was surprising then, when after receiving a call from a rather distressed sounding Fenrir and coming down to the Grimm's room to see what the problem was, Ozpin had to fight very hard not to burst into a fit of laughter.

The Grimm had been worried that his transformation was wearing off but looking at him now the headmaster was certain that there was nothing to worry about.

" _Though it looks like Mr Lupus is the type of teenager who grows facial hair early"_

Taking a second to compose himself, Ozpin walked up to the flustered Alpha and grabbed him gently by the shoulders.

"Mr Lupus" Ozpin spoke softly "There is nothing to worry about. You are not changing back into a Beowolf, you are just going through a human process that's completely natural"

Fenrir's panic gave way to confusion. As the Alpha continued to try and process Ozpins words, the headmaster strode over to Fenrir's bathroom sink and grabbed a small, black bag that he had left there some time ago, but from the looks of things, the Grimm hadn't even touched it.

" _I wonder if he even realised this was here?"._

Rifling through the small toiletry bag, the headmaster quickly found a small, simple shaving razor and a bottle of shaving foam.

"When human males reach a certain age, hair will start growing on different parts of their bodies. The lower half of the face is one of those areas. We call them beards. I'm surprised you didn't know about this considering how much you used to… travel when you were a Beowolf."

Thinking on it, Fenrir had on many occasions come across some humans who had very distinct facial hair, the most recent example being Port and that grey… thing he had on his upper lip. On this realisation, Fenrir suddenly felt quite foolish. A fact made obvious when his long, bushy tail started to wrap around his own leg and his ears fell flat on the top of his head.

" _So, it was nothing to worry about at all. Great, way to make yourself look more like a clueless idiot, you worthless Alpha"._

Ozpin saw that Fenrir was clearly annoyed with himself, so to steer him away from his thoughts, Ozpin handed the Grimm the razor and foam and began making his way out of the Beowolf's room.

"I would advise shaving it off before classes start. Teenage beards are generally quite scraggly and not very pleasing to look at. Splash some hot water on your face, apply the foam and then use the razor to get the stubble off, its a very simple process. Don't cut sideways however, you'll only slice your face open doing that"

That last little bit of information caused Fenrir's eyes to nearly bug out of his skull.

"Slice my fac...!"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out Mr Lupus. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a great many reports to fill out and as much as I wish it were otherwise, they won't write themselves"

And just like that, Ozpin walked out the door and disappeared from sight. Still demanding an explanation, Fenrir charged after the enigmatic headmaster, only to find that once again, the older man was nowhere to be found.

Fenrir stood in the doorway for a solid minute, took a deep breath in through his nose, punched the doorframe and stalked back inside his room with audible foot stomps.

" _One of these days Ozpin, just ONE of these days I'll catch you off guard and then we'll see who's really the fool"._

Turning his attention back to the razor and can in his hands, Fenrir felt a slight twinge of trepidation run through him as he thought back on what the Grey-haired headmaster had just told him.

If he wasn't careful, his face could end up resembling a cutting board. And he doubted that would help create a more positive image for the disguised Beowolf.

Shaking his head and dispelling his uncertain thoughts, Fenrir walked over to his sink and began running the hot water.

" _I'm not about to be intimidated by a tiny blade that's thinner than my fingernails. Ozpin said it was simple, so this should be no issue for me"._

With his confidence reinvigorated, Fenrir opened the can of shaving foam, and began a process that would very quickly become routine for the young Grimm.

...

"YYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

...

At around two minutes before class began, Ruby felt herself begin to get really anxious, her fingers constantly drumming away on her desk as her eyes never wavered from the classroom door.

When it came to Beacons resident Beowolf, he was usually one of the first to arrive in the classroom. Not because he was trying to be a good student, but because that way he could take himself to the back of the class without having to deal with other students glaring at his back.

Or, as he had been doing recently, place himself next to team RWBY as they were the only ones in the room who didn't harbour negative emotion towards him.

So, it was unusual then, that here they were, seconds away from the first class of the day starting and Fenrir was nowhere to be seen.

" _Ooh I hope he's not being bullied again. Why can't those jerks just leave him alone?"_

Weiss was about to snap at Ruby to stop tapping away at her desk, but then the door to the classroom burst open, hit the back of the wall and wobbled in its hinges as a midnight-haired giant of a man stomped forward with his head bowed down.

Ruby was about to let out a sigh of relief and say hello to the Grimm, but then very quickly had to clamp both hands on her mouth to stop a tidal wave of giggles bursting out from her lips. Fenrir was covered in tiny wads of red and white tissue paper and still had tiny splotches of shaving cream on his face. In short, he looked like a very poorly done mummy. None of this was helped by the downright murderous glare he wore the second he entered the room.

A few unfortunate people however, were unable to supress their chuckles. Their humour quickly dissolved into panic however when Fenrir glared up at them and snarled menacingly.

As the shaken students retreated back to their seats far away from the Grimm, Fenrir walked briskly over to the seat nearest to the small red-head, parked himself down and stared forward at the wall, fuming silently to himself.

"Uhhh... Fen..." Ruby made to ask what had happened to the Alpha, but Fenrir cut her off by giving her a very cutting look.

"Not...a... word!" He said through gritted teeth.

Returning back to glaring at the blackboard, Fenrir failed to notice Yang looking at him from over the top of Ruby's head. Staring down at the angry and embarrassed Beowolf, the gears in Yang's devious little mind began to turn and a Cheshire cat grin slowly grew on her face. Ruby recognised the look in her sisters' eyes, recalled it from years of living with the older blonde and her agonisingly bad puns, and felt cold dread wash over her soul as she realised her sister was about to possibly make a very bad life choice.

" _Noooo Yang! Does he really look like he's in the mood for one of your bad jokes right now?!"_

"Y'know wolfy" Yang spoke out, still smiling away and blatantly ignoring her sisters flailing arms of protest. "I really **Moustache** how you cut up your face like that.

Ruby felt like crawling up into her hood and hiding there. Behind Yang, the small redhead could pick out the loud groan of Weiss and the faint, defeated sigh of Blake **.** Fenrir however, was completely silent and stock still. Turning to look at Yang, Ruby noted the large grimace on the Alpha's face, looking like he was in pain.

"Stop that!" He blurted out, his shoulders shaking ever so slightly.

Ruby silently prayed that her sister would take the hint. Fenrir obviously didn't want to be bothered right now. Unfortunately, yang apparently didn't now when to quit and looked the Grimm dead in the eyes and continued to grin widely at him.

"Yeah, your right, I should probably just **Shave** it for later"

For a second there was silence. Ruby ducked down and braced for the worst.

And then Fenrir started to shake and shudder. And then he slammed his head down onto the desk and burst into a wild fit of chuckles and chortles.

"PPPFFFFFFFFTTTTTTHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... I HATE YOUHOOOHOHOHOHOHAHAHAAHAHA"

As Fenrir continued bashing his fist against the desk, trying and failing to hold in his laughter, Ruby could only stare at the Grimm in shock. Yang however, just shut her eyes and faced forward with an incredibly smug look on her face.

"Its too early for this" Blake muttered despairingly, her quiet voice drowned out by Fenrir's explosive laughter

Ruby [Along with a group of particularly traumatised students] stared down at the laughing Faunus and felt her fear morph into exasperation.

" _Oh god, Yang was telling the truth. He really does like puns."_

Fenrir finally, was able to get his chest spasms under control just as Oobleck came zipping in through the doorway. Throughout all of the class however, Ruby could see out of the corner of her eye, Fenrir's mouth occasionally twitch and wobble as he desperately tried to go back to looking angry.

" _Well"_ Ruby thought to herself as she let out a wistful sigh, " _At least we know he has a sense of humour, even if it is a horrible one"._

...

A few hours later, Fenrir's self-inflicted cuts had completely healed and he could remove the small wads of tissue paper from his face. His pride was nowhere near as healed and he still refused to talk about what happened to the others.

At the final lesson of the day, the Faunus was once again lounging back in his seat trying to not die of boredom. It was Grimm studies and Professor Port was once again rambling on and on, his voice becoming white noise in the wolfs head.

" _The sad part is these stories of his sound quite fascinating. But BY THE GODS is his voice dull"_

Unfortunately for Fenrir, being closer to the front of the class meant that his lack of attention was all the more obvious.

And unlike the four girls next to him, he hadn't learnt to hide it yet.

"Mr Lupus!"

Fenrir snapped to attention, his tail upright like an electrified wire brush. Port looked at the young Grimm with an unimpressed expression. Around him, Fenrir could make out a few muted chuckles as a few students took humour in seeing him get caught out.

"I know because of your… background, I'm sure you think this information is beneath you" Port spoke in a lightly scolding tone "But please try to pay attention. There are always new things to learn in life, even with subjects you're familiar with"

Fenrir grumbled to himself, the tiniest nod being the only thing that indicated to the older man that he had heard him. As Port turned back to continue his lecture, Fenrir looked to his side to find that once again, Ruby was not paying the slightest bit of attention, drawing a picture of what appeared to be a stick figure version of herself, standing victoriously atop an enormous pile of Grimm corpses. The Grimm all had x's for eyes and appeared to all be holding "Boring textbooks".

" _Well that's an unpleasant image I could have gone without seeing. Thanks for that Ruby!"_

Fenrir turned back to the front of the class with a slightly disturbed look in his eyes, as it seemed Port had finally finished his long-winded story and had gotten back on track to teaching an actual lesson.

"Yes, as unfortunate as it is dear students, the harsh truth is that despite how long the Grimm have been around, despite the countless and bloody battles we have had with them over the many millennia, we still know so very little about our oldest and most fearsome enemies."

This caught Fenrir's attention, his ears perked up right as he leaned forward in his seat. He found it surprising that Port would admit after all his tales, that humans still thought they lacked information when it came to his people.

"For example," Port carried on "Despite numerous expeditions conducted deep in Grimm territory, performed by many veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses, myself included, we are still uncertain as to the exact nature of many aspects of the Grimm's way of life. The most pressuring of these being how exactly Grimm are born. Do they reproduce, do they split and multiply like cells, or do they just appear, fully formed from the shadows they thrive in?".

Fenrir frowned to himself, his head down in contemplation. The question of their birth was one Fenrir could actually understand the humans not knowing the exact answer to. If anything, he was relieved they didn't know, the Grimm had been extremely careful to make sure the nature of their births was a closely guarded secret, one only they knew about.

If the Humans ever figured out just how the Grimm were able to keep their numbers so high, they would be at a significant disadvantage and could potentially be wiped out completely.

And yet, as Fenrir continued to think on it, he realised that if he was to reveal, just a small nugget of information right now, it could potentially dispel at least some of the lingering animosity being volleyed at him by the bucketloads every day, by almost everyone in Beacon.

" _Are you INSANE?!"_ A darker part of his mind screamed at him. " _Why not just give away all our weaknesses and secrets while you're at it! They are the ENEMY, we don't tell them anything"._

Yet, as always, that softer, melodic voice spoke out in his mind and calmed his nerves.

" _They are not your enemy anymore. They have given you shelter in this place, you have friends here. Repay them by sharing some of what you know. Not everything, just a piece. It'll show you're on their side."_

There was that word again 'Friend', did he truly have friends here? Looking back towards team RWBY, he realised that they were actually looking at him. Even Ruby had stopped her little art project to give a curious glance towards the debating Alpha.

Looking at them right then, Fenrir's mind was made up. He had no intention of telling the humans everything about his kind, not yet at least. But, he figured he could at least tell them this much.

So, with that, Fenrir rose his hand up high into the air.

"Sir" He called out, inadvertently catching the attention of everyone in the room, even those who had zoned out of the class completely.

Port looked at the Grimm with a surprised expression, his eyebrows rising a whole two millimetres on his head.

"Um, yes Mr Lupus"

"I… I can tell you… how we are born"

All at once, everyone's attention was focused solely on the Grimm. Fenrir immediately regretted opening his mouth as he now realised all eyes were on him, now he had no choice but to speak. Once the elder Huntsmen fully absorbed what Fenrir had said, he had darted round to his desk, grabbed an enormous clipboard and a pen, and stood fully facing the put-off Grimm.

"Can you now Mr Lupus? Well then please by all means share."

Unconsciously swallowing a lump in his throat, Fenrir gave a quick look towards the four girls next to him. If they had been looking at him before, now their focus was entirely zeroed in on him. Shaking off his growing nerves, Fenrir stood to attention and began what was sure to be a long and exhausting conversation.

"We… are not born exactly… not most of us at least. We are… made".

An echo of murmuring followed this statement. In a matter of moments, the entire atmosphere in the room had changed. The Beowolf of Beacon was revealing information that up until now, nobody had known about.

"Made, Mr Lupus can you elaborate on that please" Port interjected, already furiously scribbling away at his clipboard.

Fenrir could still feel a light twinge of guilt lingering in his gut, but he forced himself on anyway. Beside him, Weiss could clearly see Fenrir's hands constantly opening and closing and his tail flicking behind him in agitation. It was obvious to her that he was uncomfortable doing this.

"Many of us… we come from 'Birthing pits'"

"What are those?"

That question came from a student Fenrir didn't even know the name of. Turning his head to look up at the classmate in question, Fenrir took a second to compose himself before responding.

"They are pits… full of black ooze. I… do not know what it is made of… but I know that it is what… we are made of"

With the question answered, Fenrir faced the front again and carried on.

"When we… come out of the pits… we are fully formed… young adults. And… we all know… what we have to do".

All around him, Fenrir's ears picked up the light scratches of pencils and pens meeting paper.

"And just how many Grimm can these pits make?" Another question asked by the elder Huntsman.

Fenrir frowned as he thought to himself, trying to remember just how productive those pits of black tar could be.

"On average… a regular sized pit… can make five hundred new Grimm a day. And there are thousands of pits".

At this revelation, the entire class fell silent. What Fenrir was talking about, it told the young Huntsmen in training that their enemies were being mass-produced daily, with no sign of stopping.

That thought was very eye opening for the young first years.

"Where are they?! Where are the pits?!"

This came from a female, a very panicked one if Fenrir had to judge. Honestly, Fenrir had hoped he wouldn't be asked this question. He had made it this far through sheer force of will, but revealing exactly where the birthing pits were, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Deep… in Grimm territory".

It was a flimsy answer, one that apparently wasn't good enough as Fenrir could sense the agitation in the room gradually start to rise.

"No! Where are they exactly? C'mon you have to tell us!".

Fenrir's face twisted into a deep grimace. All of a sudden, his breaths started to come up short in his chest, as all the while the voices in his head were screaming at him to stop.

" _They cannot know! You cannot tell them! STOP BEING A SNIVELLING TRAITOR!"_

"That's enough!"

All at once, the steadily rising voices in the room were brought to a screeching halt as professor Port rose up to his feet and cut through the din of the classroom with quite possibly, the most authority Fenrir had ever heard in his voice.

"We have already learned so much today from Mr Lupus, much that we did not know before, but it's clear that he does not wish to discuss anymore at this point in time. If Mr Lupus is not comfortable revealing anymore information about _His_ people, then that is his choice, we cannot force it out of him".

Fenrir felt a small spark of gratitude nestle inside of him. But clearly, the elder Huntsmen's words only further incensed his students as another voice in the crowd spoke out.

"Sir, how can you say that? They're not people, they're monsters! If we find out where these pits are, we can wipe them all out".

Port made to respond, but was cut off when Weiss of all people, actually stood up and looked up at the agitated student.

"If he's _expected_ to tell us where these 'birthing pits' are, then by that logic shouldn't you tell him where your parents live?"

That brought everyone's protests to an immediate halt, even Fenrir looked at the heiress with widened eyes.

"Or how about directions to the nearest hospital? Or school, or anywhere like that?"

The other student stuttered and blustered, trying to come up with an answer but Weiss had apparently made her point as she simply turned back around and sat back in her seat, pointedly looking forwards at the board. The Alpha stared at the smaller girl for a second before feeling his awkwardness return ten-fold.

" _I've become so unable to defend myself, that a human is having to do it for me. When did I become so Pathetic!"_

With a slight sense of calm returning to the room, Port coughed into his hand and looked back towards the slightly annoyed Grimm.

"Well Uhhh… if your finished Mr Lupus, you can sit back down now".

Fenrir made a move to do just that, already regretting opening his mouth in the first place as he could sense the negative energy in the room return exactly the same as before.

" _Well, that was a big waste of time"._

But before Fenrir could get back in his chair, another voice spoke out. Only, this one was one Fenrir was much more familiar with.

"Wait a minute" Ruby leaned forward in her chair to look up at the Alpha who was in a half sitting, half standing position. "You said 'most' Grimm are made, not all".

Fenrir blinked, then looked around himself to realise that the attention was once more, back on himself. Letting out a tired sigh, Fenrir straightened himself up and resumed talking. After all, he figured revealing this bit of information would be mostly harmless, or at least it wouldn't do any more damage than what had already been done.

"I… did not come from a pit… I was born naturally… I had a mother… and a father".

Another chorus of hurried whispers followed the Beowolf's words. Fenrir meanwhile, was unable to pry his eyes away from Ruby who was staring at him with such rapt attention, that it was actually kind of unnerving him.

"Is that abnormal to Grimm?" Asked Blake

"It's… not unheard of… but it is quite rare" Fenrir answered. Feeling the need to elaborate, Fenrir continued.

"If… you had a room… with one hundred Grimm… around ten of them… would be natural born".

Fenrir's ears constantly twitched in every which direction as they picked up the frantic scribbling of notes.

"Why is that?" Weiss added "If you can give birth naturally, why even have the pits in the first place?"

"Low sex-drives mainly".

Fenrir said that so bluntly that it took a moment for anyone to actually register it. When they finally did, Yang burst out into an explosion of laughter, Blake looked away from her partner and appeared to be holding her hand up to her mouth, Ruby went as pale as a sheet and Weiss turned a furious red.

" _Huh, they swapped colours"._

Elsewhere around the room, Fenrir could make out quite a few people chuckling and others groaning in disgust. Fenrir meanwhile, was just really confused by everyone's reactions.

Port, stroking his moustache, attempted to get the conversation back on track.

"Right, well ummm, I think we get the idea there".

Ruby, eager to change the subject as well, voiced another question to the somewhat bemused Grimm.

"So, you were born. Does that mean you used to be… a puppy, like a **Beopup**?".

Fenrir sneered at the word 'puppy', but he answered just the same.

"Yes. Not for long though. For natural born's… it takes about a year… for us to grow to maturity. After that… the parents leave. We don't often have children of our own… mostly because we don't have time for it. Our minds are only ever focused on… well, you know".

Calm returned to the classroom then as reality set back in. What Fenrir was saying, was that the Grimm were more interested in killing humans, than they were in keeping their own population stable.

All Ruby could think of meanwhile, was an image of a very tiny Beowolf about the same size as Zwei, and then she looked back towards Fenrir and imagined him being that small.

Fenrir frowned as Ruby looked at him and then immediately looked away from him as she in vain, tried to stifle her chortling.

Ignoring the crazy females next to him, Fenrir looked back towards Port and nodded his head.

"That is all… I have to say".

Professor Port nodded once in return and instructed Fenrir to retake his seat, once again thanking him for the information provided. Once back in his seat and Port had retaken control of the class, Fenrir took a brief scan of the room to judge everyone's emotional state.

It hadn't improved much, if at all. All this did was further validate to the Grimm just what a stupid idea this had been.

" _I could tell these humans everything about my kind, it wouldn't change a thing. Why did I ever think this would work?!"_

Fenrir was brought out of his musings by a quiet but incessant 'Psst' coming from his right. Turning to find the offending noise, revealed Yang as the culprit, smiling devilishly at the Alpha.

"Hey Wolfy, how low are your 'drives' exactly?"

"Yang!" Weiss whisper-yelled, her face once again flaring up "Stop being crude, you can't just ask him something like tha…"

"Worse than panda's… I guess"

At that, Yang's mirth [And Weiss's horror] only increased. Fenrir meanwhile, just rolled his eyes and looked in front of him.

" _Humans are just so bizarre"._

….

 _Tuesday_

Fenrir was back in the library, an area he was becoming quite familiar with. Though this time it wasn't for a positive reason. Another death squad as he liked to call them, had been waiting outside his room, and not really in the mood for a fight, he did what he always did and retreated back to an area he knew he was at least somewhat safe in.

Now that he was here however, he decided to try and find a new book that would take his fancy. He decided he'd also try and get some of this 'Homework' done, as apparently not doing it, as he had been doing for the past several weeks, only ended up in him having to do menial chores for the teachers that took up a large portion of his time and by the end, left him feeling like his infant soul was trying to vacate his body.

Fenrir hummed to himself as his fingers ghosted over the various spines of the novels in front of him.

 _The battle of Fort Castle_

" _Sometimes… these humans amaze me at just how unimaginative they are. Seriously, a baby Boarbatusk could have come up with a better name than that!"._

 _Duke of the bells_

" _Look at the size of that thing! It'll take me forever to read that"._

 _The tragedy of Plagueis the Wise_

" _That's not a tale I'm familiar with"._

Suddenly Fenrir felt quite dizzy after that thought. Shaking his head roughly, Fenrir leaned back, grabbed the Fort Castle book, and made his way to the nearest desk.

On the way however, he caught sight of someone familiar.

" _Weiss?"_

Indeed, there she was, mountains of stacked papers piled up all around her, and nose deep in one of her no doubt many binders. Looking around, Fenrir confirmed that the Heiress was all by herself. After spending some time deliberating with himself, Fenrir shrugged and walked up to the white-haired girl.

"Hey Weiss".

Weiss jolted a little in surprise, Fenrir had obviously broken her concentration, before turning around to face the giant Grimm/Faunus and give him a tiny nod in greeting.

"Good afternoon Fenrir. What brings you here?"

Fenrir made to tell Weiss about how he was essentially waiting for the group of Huntsmen in training to leave the entrance to his room, but then he thought better of it.

" _No point in getting her involved in my problems. I'll deal with it myself."_

"Just, getting some… studying done"

He wasn't technically lying, he just wasn't telling the full truth. Weiss didn't question it thankfully, merely offering him a nod of approval before turning back to her work.

"Do… you mind if I join you?" Fenrir asked as he gestured to a nearby seat. Weiss regarded him for a moment, before letting out a tired sigh and shrugging non-committedly.

"Just try not to make a lot of noise, I prefer studying in silence, hence why the rest of my team isn't here with me".

Fenrir gave a grunt of understanding, he was used to silence with Blake, so this wouldn't be any different. As quietly as he could, the midnight-haired Grimm parked himself down in the wooden chair and began his own reading.

He was getting better, slowly but surely, he was able to get through at least a few paragraphs of text before he needed to stop and backtrack on himself. Still, it did annoy him whenever he lost his place or just completely blanked on any given sentence.

After a while though, a different type of annoyance made its presence known to Fenrir.

"Aagh!" Fenrir grunted in discomfort as his back started to ache. Taking a moment to rub at the base of his spine, Fenrir caught, out of the corner of his eye, Weiss looking at him with a questioning gaze. Attempting to look somewhat apologetic, Fenrir gestured behind himself.

"My back… it aches… after a while".

Weiss regarded him for a moment as he continued to soothe his protesting spine, before making a small tutting sound and turning back to her work.

"Hardly surprising, you know your posture is terrible right?"

Fenrir blinked as he looked at Weiss with his own confused stare.

"Posture?"

Stopping what she was doing again, Weiss turned on her chair to face the Beowolf fully and explained.

"You hunch, all the time. Even when your walking, your head hangs low and your shoulders lean way too far forwards. Of course, you'll get back-ache if your posture is constantly hunched over like that".

Fenrir thought about what Weiss said. Back when he was an ordinary Alpha, his body had always naturally leaned forward from the waist up, so his body was ready to spring into action at a moments notice, and it had never bothered him before.

Now though, he had a human body and clearly, it wasn't supposed to position itself this way, according to Weiss.

" _Call me crazy"_ He mused to himself _"But I'd much rather avoid unnecessary discomfort"._

Thinking on this, Fenrir observed Weiss as she resumed her work. Despite the fact that she was reading from a textbook, her poise was completely straightened. Head up, perfectly aligned with the neck, shoulders relaxed and loose.

Taking a moment to muse, Fenrir nodded to himself and took in a deep breath. And then, as slowly as possible, Fenrir straightened himself up.

CLICK!

"… _Something just popped!"_

Despite that unnerving sound coming from his spine, Fenrir carefully readjusted himself until eventually, he felt like he was in a more appropriate position.

Still, he just wanted to confirm to be sure.

"Is… this better?" He asked his unaware example.

Weiss looked up again, now looking quite miffed, that is until she saw just what the Grimm had done to himself. Going from a slouched position, Fenrir was now practically bent backwards, his spine concave and his head so upright, he looked more like a Meerkat than a Wolf.

A slight tremor on her lips was the only indication that she found this humorous, but then she shook her head and walked over to Fenrir's side.

"Now your too far backwards, you'll snap in half if you keep doing that. Look, like this".

And with that, Weiss adjusted Fenrir's back, placing a small hand on the base of his spine. Fenrir frowned in awkward confusion, but simply allowed his body to be moved. Soon, Weiss took a step back and admired her handiwork.

Fenrir was at a perfect 90' angle, from his neck to his back to his legs, and the Grimm immediately felt some of the excess tension leave his body.

"There, that feels better doesn't it?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah… Thanks Weiss".

With that settled, the Heiress moved to return to her seat, but then she stopped halfway and stood with her back facing the Alpha.

Fenrir was about to ask what was wrong, but then Weiss very sharply turned around and stared at the befuddled Grimm with an excited glint in her Ice-blue eyes.

"Your hair".

"My… what?"

"It's all messy, no style to it at all. Brush it back to the side with your hands, to keep it out of your eyes when you read of course".

The way Weiss said that, made Fenrir doubt that that was the legitimate reason to keep his hair out of his eyes. Despite that, the way the smaller girl was looking at him, made him think better of just simply refusing her request. So, with a quiet grumble, Fenrir raked his fingers through his black and blue hair and swept it towards the left side of his head. Once that was done, Fenrir looked up at the heiress to see if she was satisfied.

Unbeknownst to the Beowolf, his agreeing to her task was only making her mind become more and more alight with ideas. Already, just from straightening himself up and brushing his hair in such a way that it was no longer falling in front of his face, he immediately looked more presentable and more well put together.

In her mind, Weiss was planning to do something that she had thus far failed to do with her teammates.

Teach Fenrir about presentation and manners.

…..

"Weiss, are you in here? Weeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssss!"

Ruby was darting in and out of multiple library aisles, searching for her partner. Her English homework was giving her grief again and she required Weiss's assistance to get her out of the boring spot she was in.

When she did find Weiss however, she almost immediately forgot about why she came to find her teammate in the first place.

In front of her was Fenrir… with a stack of books on top of his head and another novel perched on the crook of his tail, walking back and forth in a straight line, with Weiss coaching him from the side.

"Arms down by your side Fenrir. Very good, not too stiff now or you'll just end up looking like an android".

Ruby was completely flabbergasted, just what was going on here.

" _And why is Fenrir just, completely going along with it?"_

"Weiss?" Ruby eventually found her voice and walked over to her partner who finally seemed to realise she was there.

"Ah Ruby. Actually, this is perfect, Fenrir!"

The Grimm stopped his balancing act, took the books off his head and tail and stood upright, offering a tiny wave to the still mystified Ruby.

"Go ahead, just do what I taught you" Weiss encouraged, a grin threatening to break across her face.

"Weiss, what is all thi…"

"Good afternoon Ruby"

All thought ceased in Ruby's mind as she stared back up at the Wolf Grimm.

"Lovely… weather outside, wouldn't you agree?"

Ruby felt all colour drain from her face, as she stared at Fenrir whose speech had suddenly become weirdly formal.

"Hmm, you still noticeably pause when you speak, we'll have to work on your speech some more. But overall, that was much better than the first time"

An audible creak was heard in the room, as Ruby craned her neck to look at her partner, her face the perfect representation of horror.

"Weiss" She whispered "What have you done to him"

Weiss's happy expression shifted to a more familiar, miffed one as she crossed her arms and let out a small 'Humph'.

"Don't be childish, just because he's a Grimm, doesn't mean he can't have some manners, besides he's already doing a better job than you or your sister".

Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Weiss, when is Fenrir ever going to talk like that to someone. 1: He's seventeen not forty and B: I don't really see him going to any of your garden parties anytime soon".

As the two bickered amongst themselves, Fenrir felt his frown return full force as he realised the two girls in front of him were just talking **at** him as opposed to with him, like he was a piece of furniture they couldn't decide where to place.

"Actually Ruby" Fenrir barked, grabbing the attention of both Huntresses "I… agreed to it because… I thought it would help me… blend in better with… other humans".

Weiss nodded and moved to stand beside the large Faunus, Ruby at a loss for words.

"Exactly. And while there is still certainly room for improvement, I'd say you've performed exceptionally well thus far Fenrir".

At that, Fenrir felt that same, low warmth bubble away in his gut as his lips twitched sporadically and he looked off to the side.

"I… was just doing what… you told me to do" He mumbled

As the Ice Queen and the Wolf Demon talked with each other, Ruby could only look on at the nightmare that was unfolding before her. Weiss was trying to get Fenrir to act like her.

" _Dear God Weiss, what have you done"._

…

 _Wednesday_

 _Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump_

Fenrir's heart hammered away in his ears as he ran across the dew-covered fields. It was early morning, earlier than when Fenrir normally woke up at least, and he figured he'd use the extra time to get in some exercise.

So, after getting dressed, Fenrir had spent the past hour jogging across the entire campus. He was getting better, able to move faster and for longer periods of time.

Still, he wasn't a machine and after coming up to the centre courtyard again, he felt the time was right to take a quick break.

Slowly, he came to a stop and started taking in gallons of air, focusing on slowing his heart-rate. Fenrir shielded his eyes as the early morning sun finally started to peak above the tree-line, the air cool and crisp.

" _Spring's in full swing it seems"_

Fenrir mused to himself as he walked over to a nearby water fountain, grabbed a handful of water and splashed it on his face. While not his favourite season, he still appreciated the scenic views the season provided.

"Morning Fenrir"

A mellow voice called out behind the Grimm. Turning around revealed the source of the voice to be Blake, cup of tea in hand and still a little bit of sleep in her eyes.

"Blake?... What are you doing… out this early?" Fenrir questioned

"No reason in particular, I just like the peace and quiet of the early morning. What about you?"

Fenrir sat down beneath the fountain, Blake remained standing as she regarded the Alpha.

"Just… getting some exercise in. I… can't really do… stuff like this at any other… point during the day… for obvious reasons".

Those obvious reasons being that it was difficult to concentrate on keeping fit when constant negative energy was being lauded at him from all sides by every student in the general area.

"Hmmm" Blake nodded in understanding "I can guess it hasn't been easy for you"

Fenrir shook his head and merely gazed up at the sky.

"I'll survive".

With Blake's arrival, Fenrir's mind was brought back to a subject matter he hadn't thought about for some time. But considering his current conversation partner, Fenrir surmised that this was a good opportunity to get some clarity.

"It's strange though" He spoke aloud "Even before… people knew I was a Grimm, I would sometimes… feel negative… emotion being directed at me… for no clear reason"

"It's probably because you have the form of a Faunus" Blake replied "You've probably already seen it a few times before now but, most of society still sees the Faunus as… a lesser species. A mutant offshoot of the Human Genome that shouldn't exist. Because of this, outside of our own island Menagerie, life for the average Faunus on Remnant is an endless cycle of discrimination and being treated as inferior".

There it was again, that quiet passion in Blakes voice combined with a hardened look in her Amber eyes that told Fenrir quite clearly just how strongly Blake felt about the way the Faunus were treated.

Fenrir's eyes moved up to the black bow atop of the Black-haired girls head.

"Is that why… you wear that bow?"

Blake froze in place as Fenrir's question threw her off-balance. Fenrir meanwhile, was visibly confused as a sudden new array of emotions rushed out from Blakes mind.

" _Is she… afraid?"_

Not just fear, but Fenrir could also see another dark well of negative energy swirling away in the centre of the amber-eyed teens very being, similar to the one he had seen in Weiss not a few days ago.

" _I wonder if all Humans have something like that inside of them"_

"How… how did you know!" Blake almost yelled, the pupils of her eyes rapidly shifting to a more slit like shape that were definitely not normal for a human.

"Uhhh… the ears" Fenrir pointed to the top of his own head and wiggled his own lupine ears for emphasis.

Blake now felt mildly embarrassed. She had thought that the bow would be enough to disguise her… extra features, but apparently it wasn't enough to fool the Grimm.

" _I wouldn't be surprised if because he's a Grimm, he can just tell by scent whether someone is a Human or a Faunus"._

Fenrir kept track of Blakes rising tension as he stood up and attempted to speak in as gentle a tone as he could.

"Why… do you wear that bow Blake?"

Blake appeared crestfallen as she realised there was no way out of this. She had nothing against the boy, but there was no way she could tell him anything about her past, someone like him, who was forced out of a cause he believed in against his will, could never understand someone like her, who abandoned her cause because she simply no longer believed in it. So, she did what she was unfortunately becoming quite good at in recent months.

Tell a half-truth.

"Like I said Fenrir, Faunus are judged and looked down upon by mere sight alone. I came to this School because I want to be a Huntress, when I do that I'll be able to finally start undoing all the years of inequality and injustice. Until then, I need for people to look at me and judge me based on who I am as a person and not because of what I am".

Fenrir was at a loss for words. His mind and senses told him that Blake hadn't been completely honest, but she hadn't lied to him either. To Fenrir, it really seemed like the Faunus had been jilted in terms of social status and influence.

" _Treated like a lesser race of people. Blake seeks to undo this; how does one even go about achieving a task such as that?"_

Regardless of methods, she had at least been somewhat honest with her reasons of keeping her identity a secret. So now, only one question remained.

"Do… the others know?"

Blake visibly winced and that told Fenrir all he needed to know.

"I… I will tell them, eventually. I just have to be sure that when I do, they won't think less of me for it".

Fenrir frowned. He still had much to learn about team RWBY, but he doubted they were the type to cast people aside just because they were different.

" _After all, they trust you, call you their friend"_ The soft voice spoke in his brain and Fenrir couldn't help but sigh at just how on point that statement was.

Regardless, Fenrir decided that for now, he would keep himself out of this little conflict Blake appeared to be having with herself.

"I… I won't say anything to them, or… to anyone else" Blake visibly relaxed at that statement.

"But" Fenrir continued "You… shouldn't care about what others think of you. It… was never my idea… to keep my identity a secret… it was Ozpins. And even now… all those students who… want me dead… I don't think about them… for even a second… I won't give them… the satisfaction".

Blake appeared solemn as Fenrir finished his little tirade. And then she looked up at him with a tiny smile on her face.

"This coming from the guy who went out of his way to save a girl who he scared half to death"

Fenrir let out a light cough and turned his head to the side.

"That was different" He grumbled "That… was my fault… and I fixed the problem… myself"

Blake shook her head.

"Of course. Well, I'll let you get back to your training. See you in class Fenrir"

And like that, Blake turned on her heels and sauntered back inside, leaving the Grimm in an oddly conflicted mood.

" _Keeping one's own identity, a secret, just so you aren't ridiculed or judged for simply being what you are. How ridiculous, I would rather die than hide any aspect of myself just to appease some small-minded Human meat-sacks"_

Shaking his head clear of his muddled thoughts, Fenrir headed back to the fountain, took one long breath and decided to get one last lap in before heading inside.

" _After all, what better way to clear ones head than an adrenaline rush"_

And like a bullet, Fenrir was off once more.

….

 _Thursday_

" _You know, looking at it objectively, I think it would be fair to say that even though they were on the winning side, Vacuo really came out of that war the ultimate losers. Even Mantle came out of it better than they did, and they lost"_

Fenrir was currently walking through the hallways of Beacon, on his way to lunch and reading a history book that detailed the rise and decline of the kingdom of Vacuo.

What had once been a lush, tropical paradise, was now nothing more than a barren desert due to centuries of exploitation from the other kingdoms and simple, human greed.

" _This kingdom then, more than any of the others, stands as a testament to what I believe is the truth. Given the chance, these Humans would think nothing of destroying the very ground beneath their feet. Precisely the reason why my kind can't allow them to do as they wish, we have to keep them in line for the sake of Remnant"._

As Fenrir continued to get more and more engrossed in the weathered text, his observational awareness went down and because the universe really likes to punish anyone who isn't paying attention to their surroundings in these situations, Fenrir naturally bumped into someone.

"OOOOFF!"

"GHHRRRFF!"

Fenrir stumbled backwards and had to peel his own face of the page he was reading. Gaining his bearings back, Fenrir looked down to see he had once again barrelled someone over by just how much mass he had.

"Sorry. Wasn't looking where I wa…"

Fenrir stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes caught sight of two long, brown rabbit ears and his brain finally got in gear and registered who exactly he'd knocked over.

" _Velvet?"_

The Rabbit Faunus groaned as she rubbed the back of her head from where it bounced off the floor.

"It's ok, I wasn't paying attention eith…"

Velvet's voice died in her throat as she looked up and saw the giant Wolf Faunus above her. Subconsciously, Fenrir's Grimm senses started running on autopilot and the Grimm suddenly felt a cold, dark dread wash over his body.

He could sense Velvet's fear. She was afraid of him.

" _No… No not you too"_

"Um… I uh… I hmmm"

Velvet stammered as she slowly crawled backwards on the floor. Fenrir meanwhile, was on the verge of panicking, he didn't know how to ease the situation into one less emotionally charged. Truthfully, he hadn't seen Velvet since it had been revealed to the school that he was actually a giant, shadowy monster. And now he was seeing just why that was the case.

"It… It's ok" Fenrir raised his hands up in an attempt to look less intimidating, ironically making himself look even more fearsome as the sunlight cast behind him darkened his form.

"I… I'm not gonna hurt you"

His words fell on deaf ears as Velvet only looked more terrified as Fenrir made the foolish decision of trying to approach her.

"Hey! Velvet where'd you go? You were right behind us, what's with you and wandering off… lately"

The Wolf and Rabbits staring contest was interrupted when a significantly taller female came around the same corner Velvet just came around. This girl was dressed in very trendy attire, most of it light brown in colour. She also wore a black beret that covered her mid-length, brown hair [Though one strand near the front transitioned into a caramel colour near the end] and her eyes were hidden behind stylishly modern sunglasses.

Despite not seeing her eyes, Fenrir could still feel the disdain coming off this new arrival. Velvet apparently knew her judging from the look on her face as she looked up at the other girl.

Without pause, the newcomer paced over towards the Grimm and got right up in his face.

"Back off!" She spoke with a growl in her voice that seemed very out of place on the fashionable looking Female.

Any lingering students in the hallway, were now instantly drawn to the confrontation taking place between the Grimm and the leader of one of the most skilled second-year teams in Beacon.

"I… I wasn't" Fenrir tried to explain whilst also attempting to keep his cool. The negativity in the air was starting to set him on edge.

"I said back off!" The woman wasn't having any of it however, as she simply got even more up in the Alpha's face.

This really started to aggravate Fenrir as his hackles started to rise in the back of his throat, his fangs sharpened in his mouth and his tail whipped behind him threateningly.

"Get… out of my face!" He snarled

"Make me" Was her only reply as she refused to budge an inch.

Fenrir's fists clenched as his mind grew more and more twisted as it begged him to finally let loose some of his pent-up aggression. But then his peripheral vision took note of Velvet slowly rising up behind the girl.

He could taste her apprehension in the air and it briefly snapped him out of his rising fury.

" _Don't. This is not a fight worth having"_ The voice that seemed to be carried by the wind itself whispered in his mind. As much as Fenrir wanted to go nuts and expel some rage, he knew it would do him no good.

So, with great reluctance and no small amount of shame, Fenrir backed down and stepped away from the situation. The female seemed satisfied with his decision and turned back to face Velvet.

"You okay Vel, he didn't try anything with you, did he?"

"I'm fine Coco, really"

The woman now revealed to be Coco, turned to look back at the put out Beowolf and visibly scowled at him.

"You keep you distance Wolfy, or you won't like what I'll do to you"

Velvet for her part just looked really conflicted, wringing her hands in a kind of nervous tick. Not even waiting for a response, Coco gently took Velvet by the arm and let her back the way they came. Velvet took one last look behind her shoulder towards the Beowolf.

Fenrir didn't even meet her eyes.

After the two left, normalcy returned back to the hallway as the other students carried on their way to wherever they were going. As if to kick him whilst he was down, Fenrir's canine ears picked out a passing conversation from some girls right behind him.

"Disgusting, I can't believe a savage like that is still allowed to be here after pulling stunts like that"

"Do you see him leering over that girl. It looked like he was going to pounce on her"

"Lucky Coco showed up when she did. That monsters dangerous, make sure you're not alone with him"

That set Fenrir off big time. Spinning in place, the Alpha's eyes locked on to the two girls talking about him like he was **SOME DAMN RABID DOG!** He growled, he bared his fangs and his eyes burned with hatred as he stared down the two females, fighting every urge in his body to pick them up **by their scrawny, little necks AND SLAMMING THEM DOWN TO THE GROUND TILL THEIR** _ **SKULLS EXPLODED!**_

Fortunately, the girls already got the hint and bolted by the time Fenrir regained control of his senses.

Still, his mood had now been soured for the rest of the day. Another image of a person he was initially on good terms with, looking upon him with fear and distrust, burned into his mind.

And the guilt twisted and churned in his gut like a writhing snake. And this feeling only angered him further as once more, his emotions had overridden his normally uncaring attitude that had never thought once of human suffering.

" _Everyday, my life as a normal Beowolf seems more and more like a distant memory. I wish I could go back to those days, when nonsense like this didn't bother me"_

Fenrir's mood hadn't improved by the time he actually got to the cafeteria and he refused to talk to any of team RWBY. Even after they asked him what was wrong, he just stared at his food.

And stewed in his anger.

… _._

 _Friday_

The rumour mill was a powerful thing. In no time at all, the whole school had heard about how the Grimm of Beacon had 'Attacked' a second-year student. Immediately after this information reached the masses, the negative energy Fenrir felt around him seemed to magnify tenfold. Hatred hung over him like a black cloud all day and even Ozpin himself had had to come down to his room to question him on what had happened.

By the next day, Fenrir's mood was at an all time low, even trying to burn off his aggression by going for another early morning jog, yielded only limited success.

" _Every day at this damn place turns into more and more of a headache. I don't know how much more of this I can take"._

So caught up in his frustrated thoughts, Fenrir didn't hear the sounds of approaching footsteps coming from behind him as he ran.

Not until a far too cheerful voice spoke into his ear as it ran past him.

"On your left!"

And just like that, Fenrir had been overtaken once again by a streak of long, flowing, bright red hair, attached to the body of a gladiator.

" _Again"_ Fenrir was in shock as Pyrrha started to pull away from him. _"AGAIN! How does this keep happening?!"_

Quickly shaking off his stupor, Fenrir snarled and shot forward with more speed, intent on keeping up with the red-head.

Fenrir knew this was probably ill-advised. When it came to team JNPR, the Grimm hadn't seen all that much of them since his freak-out and subsequent battle with Nora and Ren. Anytime he had seen them was when they joined team RWBY in the cafeteria, even then they hadn't said a word to him. In short, he still didn't know how they felt about him, but he imagined it wasn't good.

Still, seeing anyone doing better than him at anything, just made Fenrir want to push himself even further than before just to beat them.

He'd been competitive ever since he was a pup and that hadn't changed in the least for the past seventeen years.

Just like before, once Fenrir had caught up, the two's exercise quickly devolved into a race that only stopped once they had both collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

Well, Fenrir collapsed, Pyrrha was far more graceful, slowly bringing herself to a stop and keeping herself standing with her hands behind her head being the only sign that she was in the least bit tired.

By the time the Alpha had gotten back on shaky feet, Pyrrha had come back to his side and was looking down at him with an apologetic smile and mirth in her bright green eyes.

"Sorry. Got all caught up in the moment again".

Fenrir really wanted to be angry. This human made it look so effortless, like she wasn't even trying. But honestly, he was more surprised that here was someone he hadn't spoken with all that much, who knew who and what he was, yet didn't appear the least bit frightened of him.

"Ho… how do you do that?" Fenrir panted. "You… you make it look so easy… aren't you tired?"

Pyrrha rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as Fenrir focused on getting air to his brain.

"Well, actually the training regiment they had us on at Sanctum was much more intensive than this."

" _More intensive!"_ Fenrir thought disbelievingly _"Were they training you to be warriors or trying to kill you?!"_

Once Fenrir's heartbeat slowed down to acceptable levels and he no longer felt like he was about to keel over, Fenrir took the chance to more closely observe the spartan-like girl. Any time the Beowolf had seen Pyrrha, she had always seemed rather cheerful and upbeat. Even after his identity had been revealed, the only negative emotion he had felt from her was a slight tremor of uncertainty.

But now that tremor was gone. Why?

"Well" Pyrrha huffed "After that, I think I'm ready for some breakfast. Would you care to join me Fenrir? If you hurry you might be able to get at least one pancake before Nora eats them all".

"Um… Pyrrha?"

The girl in question turned around to see Fenrir hadn't moved from his spot.

"Hmm, what's the matter?" she asked with a puzzled expression.

Fenrir held his hands up in front of him, his pointer fingers unconsciously tapping against each other as he tried to figure out how best to phrase his next question.

"Why… why are you not… afraid of me?"

Pyrrha's response to such a question was to simply quirk one eyebrow and give a slight smirk towards the troubled Alpha.

"Should I be?"

Fenrir however, saw no humour in this situation. He simply grunted and turned to look towards the entrance to Beacon academy proper.

"Everyone else is it seems".

Pyrrha took a step toward the larger man.

"Well, can you blame them? You aren't exactly a normal occurrence, even in a huntsmen academy like this one".

Fenrir could only huff at that, unable to deny the girls logic. Pyrrha however, wasn't quite done.

"Myself on the other hand, my teammates and I heard from team RWBY about how you defended Weiss from a pack of Beowolves, all just in an attempt to apologise to her for attacking her yourself. After hearing something like that, I think it would be a little unfair to judge you just for being what you are, I'd much rather judge you based on what you've done during your stay here, wouldn't you agree?"

Fenrir couldn't respond to that, he didn't know how to. Truthfully, Fenrir had always judged Humans, believing them all to be nothing more than mindless, greed-driven thugs who only cared for their own interests. While he had seen many Humans in his lifetime who quite easily fit this description, here was a human who was very much, not that.

"Does that answer satisfy you Fenrir?" Pyrrha asked, smile still on her face as Fenrir shook himself back into gear.

"Uhhh… yes, yes it does. Um, thank you Pyrrha, I wasn't… expecting that kind of… response".

Pyrrha chuckled good-naturedly before turning to head back to the Academy, Fenrir this time following along behind her.

"Well, you'll be happy to hear I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Follow me, you'll see what I mean".

Curiosity getting the best of him, Fenrir did indeed follow Pyrrha back into the academy, eventually leading him into the student breakroom that he had become quite familiar with.

What was unfamiliar, was that the rest of team JNPR was also there having their breakfast. Ren and Nora were sitting next to each other on the couch, Ren quietly cutting into a single pancake whilst Nora looked like she was on the verge of eating the plate itself, and Jaune was by the sink washing up his plate.

Fenrir felt his jaw lock in place for as soon as the others had realised he was in the room, the tiny tingles of apprehension and unease started to emanate of them just the same as nearly every other student in Beacon.

" _Are you sure they feel the same way as you Pyrrha? I'm not seeing it"._

Tense silence hung over the room like fog, Jaune visibly started shuffling in place and even Pyrrha's once winning smile now looked slanted and wonky as nobody said a word.

"Uh, hey Fe-Fenrir, how you doing?" Nora attempted to make small talk and Fenrir actually felt second-hand embarrassment as she floundered hopelessly.

However, it was as Fenrir watched the small girl try to strike up a conversation with Ren standing behind her staring at him pensively, that he had a sudden realisation. While he had certainly apologised to Weiss for nearly traumatising her a few weeks ago, he had almost forgotten that Weiss was not the only one he'd had a tussle with on that day.

 _The two of them pinned up against the wall, his paws slowly crushing their windpipes as he choked the life out of them._

There it was again, that spark of guilt, of regret that just made Fenrir want to punch a wall and scream at the sky.

" _You managed with Weiss"_ The soft voice spoke, for a moment Fenrir almost imagined the voice smiling at him. " _This will be no different. You'll feel better for it, and it will help in getting them to trust you"._

So, with a dark frown and a tired sigh, Fenrir brought a stop to Nora's ramblings and stepped towards them. Fenrir caught in the corner of his eye, Ren's fingers twitch in apprehension.

"Nora… Ren" Fenrir spoke slowly, his gravelly voice rumbling in the back of his throat. "I… attacked you for no reason… and I am sorry for that. I… was angry… and… confused… in a way I still am".

A Grimm's rage was a fire that burned eternal. Even now, Fenrir could feel the flames of aggression burn away in his core as they hissed at him for being so pathetic as to apologise to a bunch of lowly humans.

Fenrir turned to face Jaune, who even now could not look him in the eye.

"I… will not ask you… to trust me. You… are right not to. So… instead, give me the chance… to prove that you can trust me… to never attack you again".

It was a lofty promise, even Fenrir recognised that. But still, whenever a Grimm made a promise, they were bound to honour it forever. Whilst he didn't know team JNPR as well as he knew team RWBY, what few interactions he had had with them hadn't been… unpleasant, so it would be unfortunate if he lost their company. For a moment, the Grimm held his breath, unsure of what their reaction would be to his statement.

And then, Nora let out a loud sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank goodness. Here I thought you were gonna come out all loud and roaring. Well, I'm cool with you wolf boy, besides it was a fun fight, you know up until the choking part".

That threw Fenrir off some. Nora had found it fun?

" _She's certainly a bizarre one, isn't she?"_

Next was Ren, whose face was as impassive as stone.

"If you can keep to your word, then I'm willing to move on as well" Ren finally responded, finishing off with only a single nod.

Finally, Jaune, who even now looked uncomfortable.

"I… I don't know. I mean, you're a Grimm! It's kind of difficult to just ignore that you know?"

Unbeknownst to the Beowolf, Pyrrha was signalling to Jaune, giving off a silent plea with her eyes. Truthfully, she hadn't known how her team would react exactly, this whole situation was a massive ocean of uncharted waters.

But if she knew her leader like she hoped she did, she knew he didn't have it in him to hate anyone. Jaune locked eyes with his partner, saw the hopeful look shining in her emerald eyes and already felt his constitution falter.

"…But, I suppose crazier things have happened at this school, what's a talking Grimm compared to everything else I've gone through this year? So… yeah, I guess I'm in the same boat as Ren".

Fenrir felt a surge of relief wash through him as he finally let his shoulders relax.

"Thank you… that is all I ask of you".

And like that, the tense atmosphere evaporated like mist and normalcy returned to the room.

"Well, I think after that, I could really do with some food in my stomach, how about you Fenrir?" Pyrrha said with her usual cheer back in her voice.

"If you wanted pancakes, I'm afraid your outta luck, Nora just ate the last batch" Jaune responded.

Nora for her part, just let out a grumpy huff. "Well there would be more, if **Someone** hadn't decided to go on strike and not make any more".

At this, Ren very pointedly looked away from all of them with his arms folded.

"Nora, if you ate any more, we're worried you will actually turn into a pancake"

Nora let out an offended gasp

"How dare you say that like it's a bad thing, you take that back right now!"

Fenrir just stood and watched the madness unfold before him, before shaking his head and striding over to the kitchen side, fruitlessly attempting to ignore the growing warmth in his chest

"I think I'll just have a coffee".

…

 _Saturday_

"47…48…49, come on wolfy, one more!"

Fenrir's muscles burned as they worked overtime to get him to the end of this last set. Saturday was gym day for Fenrir and despite all the looks he had received when he entered the place, he refused to just leave.

" _I refuse to let my body grow weak, just to appease you terrified, elitist chimps"._

On arrival however, Fenrir had been accosted by the blonde bombshell herself; Yang Xiao-Long. Not long after that, Yang had put the Grimm through a living hell of intense workouts that worked out muscles the Alpha hadn't even known he had.

Right now, Fenrir was using the cable crossover machine, one of several machines that had been set up in the massive gym, and nearly all of them had already been used by Fenrir and his sudden personal trainer.

Finally, Fenrir was able to will his aching body to pull down the heavy weights one last time. As soon as Yang called the final rep, Fenrir eased the cables back up to their resting position and crumpled down to the floor, gasping for air.

"And that's 50, nice job Fenrir. Ok you chill out here for a few minutes, I'm just gonna go finish up my workout then we'll head back to the breakroom, kay?"

Not even waiting for his response, Yang sauntered away, not appearing the least bit fazed from all the heavy lifting her and Fenrir had just done. The Grimm stared at Yang in disbelief, before letting his eyes roll into the back of his head, his skull thudding against the padded floor.

" _Not human… no way she's human. It's just not possible!"_

A short while after that, the Blonde and the black and bluenette were walking through the halls of Beacon, making their way to the breakroom where apparently, the rest of team RWBY were enjoying a rare moment of downtime.

It was as the two made their way through the stone corridors, Yang talking animatedly at Fenrir while the Grimm was simply content to listen, that an unpleasant thought that Fenrir had been ignoring for the past week now reared its ugly head in his mind.

" _Yang… ever since the Grimm outbreak, she's been really friendly with me. Which would be fine, if not for the fact that before that, she wouldn't even let Ruby be in the same general area as me. Something's changed, but what?"_

Fenrir hadn't wanted to ask before, deciding rather to take Weiss's advice to heart and simply forget the whole incident had even occurred. But right now, the thought just wouldn't go away, and it didn't seem like he'd get a better opportunity than right now to ask.

So, he did.

"Yang?"

"Hmm, what's up Fenrir?"

For a second, Fenrir hesitated, wondering if it was even worth asking this kind of question, it seemed like he'd been asking it a lot lately. But then he saw Yang's attention was focused solely on him and realised he had no choice but to ask now.

"I... Before I helped Weiss with those… other Grimm… you were… suspicious of me… wary of me. But now you're not… why?"

Yang appeared surprised for a second, but then her face quickly shifted to her more traditional smirk and she spoke honestly.

"Well, when we told you about how Weiss bolted from those Beowolves, I honestly didn't think you'd care at all. Like most people here, I've had bad experiences with Grimm in the past so after finding out you used to be just like them, I'll admit I kinda assumed the worst and thought you'd just be a dangerous, foul tempered grump. I mean, your kinda that anyway but still".

Fenrir frowned at that last comment, but Yang carried on with a bit more sincerity in her voice.

"But then instead of looking unbothered you looked… like you were in pain. Like, you felt bad, honestly bad about what you'd done, and it threw me off big time. When do you ever hear about a Grimm feeling guilty for… well anything really? And then later on, when we found you and Weiss passed out on the floor, you didn't see it cus you were unconscious, but you were really beaten up. At that moment I thought to myself, if a guy like that, can put himself through that much pain just for one person, then maybe there's just a little more to them than just anger and bloodlust"

Fenrir was stumped. On the one hand, these humans could be impossibly quick to judge, not that they weren't wrong in his case but still. And then on the other hand, like Yang they were immensely quick to forgive. These two factors combined, made it very difficult for the Alpha to get a real read on people, even people like Yang whom he'd known for at least a little while.

" _The more I learn about these Humans, the more impossible they are to understand. What sense does that make?!"_

"There, that about cover it for ya Wolf-boy?"

Fenrir simply nodded, to which Yang spun on her heel and swaggered away.

"Well come on then, the others are probably wondering where we are".

Shaking off mental cobwebs, Fenrir followed after the young Huntress.

Not long after, the two arrived at the breakroom. Weiss was sitting at the couch, writing down something in one of her binders that was already as fat as a phonebook, Blake was flicking through some news articles on her scroll [Though from his angle, Fenrir couldn't make out what the articles were about] and Ruby was trying desperately trying to reach the top of the highest cupboard, her feet up on their tiptoes yet she was still just a few inches short.

"Come ooooooonnnnn! I know your back there my delicious ones"

"Hey Rubes, Watchu tying to get?" Yang noticed her sisters struggles and chuckled under her breath.

As Yang went over to help her smaller sister out, Fenrir made his greetings to the other two and sat down on the couch next to Weiss.

As he walked over, he was tempted to look over Blake's shoulder and see what she was reading. But then he shook his head and carried on.

" _Don't be nosy"_ He admonished himself.

Sitting down, Fenrir took a moment to let his worn muscles unwind and relax. He didn't relax for long however, as not a few seconds later, Fenrir's nose was attracted to a very familiar scent and his stomach roared at the prospect of what that smell brought.

"Aww yeah, knew I hid them back here" Ruby giggled to herself, holding a long packet of her favourite cookies "Come to mama you double chocolate chipped angels"

Yang could only shake her head and smile at her baby sisters antics. Her smile promptly vanished however, when a towering figure had suddenly appeared behind Ruby.

"Uhmmm… sis?"

"Hmm?" Ruby questioned only for Yang to point above her head. Turning around, Ruby jumped back as Fenrir was suddenly standing right behind her, a strangely hungry look in his eyes.

"Ummm, Fenrir?"

Fenrir appeared to be completely zoned out, his eyes fixed on one point. Following his line of sight, Ruby realised that the Wolf Faunus was staring at the pack of cookies in her hand.

Slowly, Fenrir reached out a clawed hand towards the object of his sudden and strong hunger pangs.

THWAP!

With lightning fast speed, Ruby smacked Fenrir's hands away and backed off several feet away from the affronted Grimm.

"No! Stay back! These are mine, MY PRECIOUS, MY PRESCIOUS!"

Yang sighed as she saw Ruby act more like a feral animal than well, the actual feral animal.

" _If there's one thing I've learned about my sister after all these years, it's never come between her and her cookies"_

Fenrir apparently, hadn't gotten that message as he glared at the smaller girl. And then his frown disappeared as he appeared to stare out the nearby window.

"What's… Port doing?"

Completely falling for the obvious ruse, Ruby looked out the window Fenrir was staring at. Seizing the opportunity, Fenrir launched forward, snatched the packet from Ruby's grip, tore off one of the ends and started scarfing down the treats like they were breadcrumbs.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Screaming in horror, Ruby shot towards the Grimm and tackled him to the ground in a furious flurry of rose petals.

"OOOF!"

Fenrir was knocked on to his back from the sudden impact, but he recovered quickly and used his superior height to keep the packet of cookies far from Ruby's reach, despite her constant straining and reaching.

Punting Ruby off of him with his leg, Fenrir held the package in his teeth and bounded off on all fours, attempting to make a break for the door. Sadly, Ruby was faster than him and, using a quick burst of her semblance, shut the door and made to charge Fenrir again.

From then on, the breakroom descended into chaos as the two chased each other round the small space, Ruby trying to reclaim her favourite sugary confections, and Fenrir trying to keep them far out of her reach.

Fenrir's luck however, finally seemed to run out as he found himself boxed in all sides by the rest of team RWBY, Weiss and Blake unable to concentrate on their respective tasks and Yang once again letting her big sis mode take over.

"Alright Fenrir!" Ruby commanded with an overly serious tone "Hand over the cookies, and nobody has to get hurt".

"Dude just give her the cookies" Yang sighed exasperatedly "It really isn't worth it "

But clearly from the way Fenrir was clutching on to the packet like a new-born baby, he didn't plan on giving them up anytime soon.

" _Seriously Fenrir where is this coming from? Why the sudden obsession with Coo… kies? Oh… OOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!"_

Looking between the redhead and the Beowolf, Yang's mind suddenly connected the dots, and she had to fight very hard not to laugh as she attracted the attention of her other teammates.

Weiss and Blake both figured it out not long after, once Yang pointed at Ruby and then at Fenrir and then at the cookies.

"Oh, of course" Weiss huffed "He has her Aura, of course that'd have side effects".

Fenrir, not paying attention to any of this, stared down at the half-eaten packet in his hand and then looked towards the silver-eyed girl, his dark blue eyes alight with fiery determination.

"You want them?... Come and get them!"

Realising there was no other way around this, the rest of team RWBY prepared themselves for the very pointless struggle that was about to commence.

Ruby matched Fenrir's challenging gaze with her own, and then letting out a furious battle cry, Ruby charged forward.

And the battle of the cookies began.

…..

 _Sunday_

" _Well it looks like that mess in the first years breakroom has been taken care of. How did those couch cushions even end up on the ceiling?"_

Ozpin hummed to himself as he stood outside on the towers balcony, surveying the academy stretched out below him. Night had fallen a few hours ago and Ozpin had taken the opportunity to do some peaceful stargazing.

The night sky was a sight he had seen countless times in his life, yet he never once got tired of seeing its majesty unveil before him.

Ozpin's brief moment of respite was cut short however, when the sound of hurried movement and light panting reached his ears. Leaning over the metal railing, Ozpin saw Fenrir scaling the side of the enormous tower.

" _Ah, Mr Lupus is on another one of his night-time excursions it seems"_ The headmaster mused to himself, smiling faintly _"Actually, this is an opportune time to question Mr Lupus on some certain topics"_

With an idea in his mind, Ozpin patiently waited for Fenrir to scale higher and higher, up to the top of the tower where he stood. In no time at all, Fenrir's clawed hands gripped the railing from below, the rest of his body following suit as he launched himself up into the air.

"Good evening Mr Lupus"

"GYYAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ozpins sudden introduction threw the Grimm completely off his concentration and it was only his fast reaction time that saved him from plummeting back down to terra firma. With shaking legs, Fenrir gingerly pulled himself back up and over the railing, scowling at the older man as Ozpin focused on maintaining his professional composure.

"I've often seen you scaling the walls and towers of Beacon at this time of the evening. Any specific reason as to why?" Ozpin got straight to the point.

Fenrir meanwhile, attempted to get his breathing under control, before folding his arms and leaning against the railing and shooting Ozpin a stern frown.

"It's… good training" He said tersely

"True enough" Ozpin carried on as good-naturedly as ever "Well other than that, how have you been holding up? According to my colleagues you've established a positive relationship with team RWBY and your working on making amends with team JNPR as well."

" _Just where, do you keep getting this information from?"_ Fenrir thought to himself, mildly disturbed at just how close an eye the school was keeping on him.

Regardless, he let out a long-winded sigh, before nodding towards the grey-haired man.

"Yes… they have been… good company to keep around… certainly better than… the rest of the school."

"Just good company? Is that all they are to you Mr Lupus?" Ozpin asked with an amused twinkle in his eyes.

Fenrir growled under his breath and pointedly looked away from Ozpin. That told the headmaster all he needed to know about how Fenrir thought of the four girls who had already had an impact on him. As a side note, Ozpin realised that Fenrir's speech had improved immensely since his first week here, almost speaking in full sentences. His voice still sounded like shredded sheet metal, but progress was progress.

"Speaking of the rest of the school, I've been receiving some very colourful letters from several families of students here, enquiring about why I allow you to be so close to their children".

Fenrir huffed at that, turning around to look out across the whole campus.

"Typical Humans" Fenrir sneered "They'll talk about… how they want me dead, but if you… gave any of them a weapon… they wouldn't have the nerve… to face me themselves".

Ozpins good mood was dimmed somewhat by Fenrir's remark. Even now, the headmaster could see in the Beowolf's eyes, a complete and utter contempt and disdain for the human race.

" _Such cold, hateful eyes do not belong on one so young"._

"I know you already answered this question Mr Lupus, but I have to ask again, why do you hate the Humans so much. Even now, after becoming friends with some of them, you seem adamant on your beliefs that we are nothing more than a race of greedy lower life-forms".

Fenrir's scowl deepened as he continued to look out towards the night sky and the shattered moon hanging overhead. And then, his expression turned surprisingly sombre as he looked Ozpin dead in the eyes.

"Ozpin… answer me this. If… the Grimm stopped… just left the Humans alone… went back to our lands… what would your kind do?"

Silence hung heavy in the air as Ozpin already had suspicions of what turn this conversation was about to take. Not even waiting for the older mans answer, Fenrir carried on.

"I'll tell you what would happen. Your… people would spread… across all of Remnant. No walls… no borders, your race would grow… like mould… covering the planet… and consuming everything. The animals… and plants of this world… they follow the laws of nature… Humans do not. You take more than… you need! You steal that which is not yours! And you abuse your power for your own… selfish desires! That is why… my kind hunts you… to keep you in line. If we didn't… you would be the death of all life on Remnant. We… are not the destroyers… you are".

Ozpin suddenly felt very tired. In all his years, he had seen countless times the damage human greed could do to the world.

One only had to look at Vacuo to understand just how out of control Humans could be at their absolute worst.

"Do you not think that's a bit harsh Fenrir. Not all of us are like that".

Fenrir didn't even blink, his dark blue eyes appearing even more dull than normal. As if there was some deep, underlying… sorrow underneath.

"Ozpin… can you honestly… look me in the eye… and tell me that wouldn't happen. Can you?"

Fenrir's midnight eyes locked with Ozpins dark brown, an almost desperate look in the Alpha's orbs.

And Ozpin shut his eyes and sighed.

"There would be people who would try, I won't deny that. But you forget another law of nature Fenrir, that where there is darkness, where there is evil, there is also light, there is also good. Humanity has its faults, but there are more pure souls among our ranks than I think you realise. We wouldn't destroy this planet, we love it too much".

Fenrir said nothing. Ozpin watched the Grimm for a moment, before shaking his head in resignation and turning to head back inside his office.

"Don't stay out too late Mr Lupus, you'll need to be on top form tomorrow, life is not yet done with throwing challenges at you".

"Ozpin"

The headmaster turned to face the Grimm halfway through the doorway.

"I… I can't take that risk… with you Humans… none of my kind could. Because we… **I** don't want this planet to die. It is the only home I have".

"… Neither do I Fenrir"

The tired Huntsmen and the lonely and angry Grimm stared at each other.

And then Ozpin walked inside, shutting the door behind him.

Fenrir sighed, and at a slower pace than before, resumed his climb to the top of the great tower. Once at the top, Fenrir's eyes once more scanned the horizon.

In the distance, he could just make out the verdant trees of the Emerald forest. On the other side of the school, he could see the tiny pinpricks of the lights of Vale. And beyond that, was the wilderness that Fenrir had known all his life.

Shutting his eyes, Fenrir allowed himself to travel down his memories, to the days when he had roamed free and unbound across all of Remnant. From Forest to jungle, desert to tundra, mountains to valleys, he had seen it all, experienced it all.

" _I can never get that back, that freedom"_ Fenrir thought as a hollow emptiness invaded his core _"Now all I am is a trapped Beast, confined in this feeble form, cut off from my home. An enemy to my own people, utterly helpless"._

As Fenrir's thoughts grew darker and darker, the wind whistled around him and that soft, melodic voice called out in his mind and all around him, as if carried by the wind currents themselves.

" _You are not helpless. You can find your freedom again, you only need to let go of your hate. You can be something different now, you can be beautiful"._

Fenrir groaned, cupping his head in his hands and running his fingers through his midnight hair.

" _Please, just tell me who you are. Why are you in my head? What do you want from me?"_

He received no answer.

Huffing in annoyance, Fenrir laid down and gazed up at the stars above.

His mind just as conflicted as it had been all those weeks ago.

 **A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNND DONE. This one was a lot longer than I thought it would be, triple the length of most of the other chapters on this story, but I can only hope the length makes up for my absence from this fic.**

 **So next up is back to the canon events with 'Jaunedice' and that should at least be a little easier to do.**

 **Now those announcements.**

 **Firstly, as many of you have pointed out, this story is listed as adventure/** **Romance** **. The thing is, I'm not sure who to pair up Fenrir with, if he should even be paired up with anyone.**

 **So, I'd like to ask you guys, just to give myself a better idea of where I'm going with this, who would YOU like to see catch our grumpy doggy's attention and state your reasons as to why. I love reading your guy's thoughts as it helps me better plan out the story in my head.**

 **Secondly is something I feel kind of selfish for asking but it concerns Fanart. I'd happily do it myself, but unfortunately, I can't do stick figures right.**

 **So, if there are any aspiring artists amongst you, it would make my WEEK if I saw some art of this story [I will even do commissions, if that is what you want, PM me to let me know].**

 **That's all I have to say, see you guys hopefully a lot sooner than last time.**


	20. Chapter 20: Jaundice: part 1

**A/N: Hello there, I'm back already, shocking I know. So, here we are with a canon episode this time around, how exciting. Before we begin, a big thank you to all those who left suggestions for future pairings in last chapter, really helped me get a better idea of what direction I would like to take this story. Nothing too exciting in this chapter, with the exception of one fight that a lot of you have been asking for for some time now.**

 **Enjoy.**

" _UUUGGGHHH. My brain feels like its been beaten to death. Whoever invented Algebra needs to be chucked into a pit full of Creeps and left there forever"._

Fenrir rubbed at his temples as he walked through the sunlit hallways of Beacon, tugging at his collar to expel some excess heat from his body.

It was the start of May, and its arrival brought about a steady climb in the temperature that provided the Beowolf with more than a small amount of discomfort. He knew it was his own fault, he still insisted on wearing the same tattered and torn Leather jacket he'd found nearly a month ago, despite the growing heat. But by this point, as stupid as it sounded, Fenrir really couldn't imagine parting with the hab-drab thing, it still reminded him of his old body.

Speaking of his old body, it turns out it had already been a month since the Alpha Beowolf had been transformed into Fenrir Lupus, a month since the world as he had known it, had been yanked out from under him and replaced with a new, more annoying one.

" _Not that it's been all bad"_ Fenrir remarked to himself, trying to be optimistic for once _"I at least know how to get back into my old body, should I need to use it. Plus, some of these Humans aren't as… braindead as I'd thought they'd be"._

Fenrir was too stubborn to admit it, but a certain group of eight had grown on him and had made his life in this new form at least somewhat bearable.

However, there were also those who seemed to go out of their way to make his life as painful as possible.

CLICK!

"AH… GH… Come on!"

Round the corner, Fenrir's ears picked out the sound of a weapon unfolding followed by a grunt of shock and exasperation.

" _Wait, I recognise that voice. Jaune?"_

Curious, Fenrir made his way towards the source of the commotion. Before he could get there however, he was stopped in his tracks by another person. A person who just so happened to be one of those people who seemed to get a kick out of terrorising the ill-tempered Grimm.

" _Cardin"_ Fenrir growled out the name in his head.

The leader of team CRDL stood a few inches shorter than Fenrir himself, yet didn't appear to be the least bit intimidated by the Wolf Faunus. Ever since Fenrir's identity had been revealed, Cardin and his gang of brutes had been relentless in aggravating the Grimm, intentionally trying to rile him up so that he'd get violent with them. One time, Fenrir very nearly did let his aggression take over and made to smash the cocky idiots stupid face into the ground, but fortunately Ruby had been nearby and very quickly, shoved Fenrir away from the situation and handed him a stress ball to take his anger out on.

The stress ball didn't last a minute.

"What are you looking at Mutt" Cardin looked up at the Grimm with that cocky smirk that he always seemed to wear and just made Fenrir's teeth itch.

"Move" Fenrir growled venomously "You're in my way"

"What if I don't wanna huh? What are you gonna do to me?" Cardin took a step towards Fenrir and sneered at him

" _Ohhh, you don't wanna know what I'd like to do to you, you entitled brick-head!"_

Fenrir tried side stepping Cardin, but the shorter male just got in the Alpha's way again and had a look on his face that just screamed 'Punch me'.

Now Fenrir was trying really hard not to go berserk, his growls already rising up in the back of his throat and his knuckles cracking from excess pressure.

"Ooooo, your growling some more. I'm so scared" Cardin's voice was laced in sarcasm as he put his hands up in mock surrender. Getting bored of this conversation, Cardin shrugged his shoulders and shoved past the Grimm.

"You're just all bark and no bite. One wrong move and Ozpin will have you flung out of the School. And then Grimm, your fair game".

And with that, Cardin sauntered off with his hands behind his head. Meanwhile, Fenrir was stock still, his arms shaking with barely contained fury. Inside his mind, the fires of rage burned red hot as his thoughts grew steadily more twisted.

" _All bark and no bite, did he really just say that to ME!? I'LL SHOW HIM JUST HOW MUCH BITE I HAVE_ _ **WHEN I TEAR HIS HEAD OFF HIS SHOULDERS THE FECULENT LITTLE WASTE OF FLESH!"**_

Fenrir would have made to turn around and do just that to the Brunette, were it not for the continuous grunts and groans coming from around the corner.

" _Bah… leave it, he's not worth my time"_ Fenrir shook his head, huffed in annoyance and carried on his way.

Finally rounding the corner, Fenrir did indeed find Jaune… stuck on the other side of a doorway as his shield was propped up in front of him, wedged in the wooden doorframe.

"Jaune?" Fenrir questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Jaune jumped like he'd just been electrocuted, letting out a shrill 'Eep'. Looking over his shield to see that it was the midnight-haired Grimm turned Faunus who was addressing him, Jaune tried to calm his racing heart and leaned on top of his shield, trying his best to look casual.

"Oh, hey Fenrir what's up?"

The shield didn't budge, even with the Blonde boy's weight on top of it.

"You're stuck" Fenrir said flatly.

"What, Pshh no I'm not, what… ha-ha… no this is just uh… Yeah I'm stuck" Jaune floundered before eventually giving up and just accepting defeat.

Fenrir shook his head and sighed. He had nothing personal against the guy, but the Blonde boy was really not impressing the Grimm in any way.

"Here, let me help you" Fenrir said as he moved forward and firmly gripped the simple shield.

"Oh, okay sure" Jaune replied "Do you wanna do this together, just you know, gently shuffle it ou…"

CRACK!

"…Or you could do that, yeah that works"

Fenrir yanked the shield out of its hold in one almighty tug, the force so great that he actually carved out grooves in the doorframe, wood chips sent scattering across the floor.

"Well I suppose that does save some time. Umm, thanks?"

Jaune sounded unsure because he still wasn't fully comfortable around the giant Faunus. He was still prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt as the rest of his team had done, but whenever Jaune was near the guy, he just gave off this intimidating air that put Jaune on edge.

" _Maybe it's cause he always has that scowl on his face, like someone just insulted his mother or something"_

While Jaune was stuck in his thoughts, Fenrir was still holding on to the Blondes shield and appeared to be examining it with a mild curiosity. The shield was simple in design, a dramatic contrast to all the other weapons Fenrir had seen thus far, pure white in colour with a gold border at the top and two golden crescents, one on top of the other, in the centre. If he squinted, he could just make out the faint lines running up and down and the shield that showed where the shield folded in on itself and formed Jaune's scabbard.

Jaune was looking at the Grimm in confusion now, as Fenrir brought the top of the shield up to underneath his nose and started smelling the metal object.

"Uhhh, Fenrir?" Jaune questioned

"This shield is old" Fenrir remarked "Older than you, and it has seen many battles"

Handing him back his shield, Jaune's expression suddenly became a lot more morose as he stared down at the aged piece of metal.

"It was originally my great-great grandfathers, along with the sword. He used it during the war".

"The Great War?"

"Yeah, that one."

"So, it's a hand-me-down?"

"I like to think of it more as a family heirloom"

Fenrir looked down at the shield as Jaune pressed a small button near the top of thing and it rapidly folded back into its more compact form.

"He was a Huntsman?" Fenrir asked

"They didn't really call them Huntsmen back then. No, he was a soldier, one of the best I'm told. I think he once fought beside the king."

Fenrir's eyes widened at that.

"The King of Vale?"

"Mmhmm, that's the one"

Fenrir folded his arms and regarded Jaune for a moment, the boy merely fidgeting in place as he saw the Grimm scan him with his eyes.

"It seems you have a noble lineage of warriors in your family"

" _That would explain why he's here, despite not being all that great at combat"_ Fenrir rationalised to himself. If the Arc name was anywhere near as noteworthy as say, the Schnee name was, then any academy in all of Remnant would be foolish to not, at the very least, give the lanky Blonde a chance to prove himself.

"Well, I wouldn't say that, our name isn't as well known as it used to be. But, yeah most of the people in my family were… pretty something back in their day" Jaune replied with a wobbly smile. And then that smile vanished as Jaune thought more about all the great things his family had done over the centuries.

And then he thought about himself.

"You seem worried about something" Fenrir said as once more, his sixth sense for negativity started tingling in the back of his skull.

"What, no, I'm cool"

Jaune attempted to brush Fenrir off, but the Grimm just continued to stare at the smaller teen with that slightly judging glare of his, and Jaune just felt his defences break upon contact.

"Well… it's just a little daunting you know. They were all such amazing people in their time and well, I'm not exactly top of the class right now am I."

Fenrir nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes" Jaune stared down at Crocea Mors, his face forlorn "I worry about whether or not I can do this, it's a lot to live up to you know"

Fenrir appeared contemplative, his eyes staring down at the floor

" _He's worried about living up to a legacy. Strangely enough… I can actually relate with that"._

Figuring, speaking his mind here would alleviate at least a few of the Boy's worries, Fenrir looked back up towards Jaune and spoke plainly.

"Yeah, I do know. My parents were…" Fenrir was about to say something along the lines of relentless and savage killers, but then he remembered the company he had in front of him and thought better of it.

"… Good at what they did" Jaune winced a little at that statement "As their Son, their progeny, I was expected to be just as powerful, if not even better than them. It did… worry me when I was younger, but then I decided not to think about it at all. At the end of the day… all I had to focus on was being the best ME I could possibly be, everything else kind of fell into place alongside that. Do not focus too much on the past Jaune, focus instead on the here and now. That is the Grimm way."

" _Coming from you?!"_ A bitter voice in the back of Fenrir's head snapped _"You've done nothing but focus on your past and wish to go back to it"._

Pointedly ignoring the voices rattling around in his skull, Fenrir turned to look and gauge Jaune's reaction. Jaune was, oddly surprised at Fenrir's statements. He hadn't expected a Grimm to ever have worries as mundane as simply living up to a family title, but apparently that had been something he had had to deal with in the past.

"Do… do you think they'd be proud of you" Jaune asked hesitantly.

To his surprise, Fenrir actually let out a chuckle at that question. But it was a bitter, defeated chuckle that rang hollow throughout the empty hallway.

"If you had asked me that two or three months ago, I would have said yes without question. But now… I very much doubt it, considering where I am and what I look like".

Fenrir, for the briefest of seconds, suddenly looked very sad in Jaune's eyes. But then the Wolf Faunus shook his head roughly and looked back towards Jaune with a more neutral look.

"But I don't think you'll ever have to worry about something like what happened to me, happening to you"

Jaune's mood perked up a bit at that.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard of a Human being turned into a Grimm"

"Don't jinx it. There's never been a Grimm turned into a Human before, and now look where we are".

The two teens both started chuckling after this exchange, Fenrir's a lot warmer and more honest than before.

"Well" Jaune sighed "I better get going, the others will start wondering where I am. I was actually supposed to be somewhere before… Cardin happened".

Fenrir's usual frown returned as he was reminded of the Brown-haired idiot and quickly concluded that it was obviously him who had gotten Jaune's shield stuck in the doorway. It seemed that guy liked to terrorise everyone, not just him.

" _How very human"_ Fenrir thought dryly _"Terrorise everyone and be a general nuisance? Sounds about right"._

Fenrir decided to abandon this train of thought and nodded towards the smaller Male.

"Right… well, I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye Fenrir" Jaune waved and walked off.

"Yeah, see you" Fenrir responded and likewise carried on his way.

The Grimm and the Human carried on their separate ways, suddenly having a lot more respect for the other than before.

" _You came here because you desire to live up to the name of those who came before you"_ Fenrir mused to himself _"Perhaps there is more to you than I originally expected, Jaune Arc"._

…

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!"

Fenrir was an Alpha Beowolf, a ground-based type Grimm. He was not supposed to be up in the air like this.

Yet here he was, sailing across the sparring ring, having just been launched into the air by his opponents massive hammer.

Finally coming back down to earth, in the roughest way possible, Fenrir rolled along the floor before coming to a stop and shakily getting back to his feet.

This was probably the third time in this one fight, that Fenrir had been forcibly evicted from the ground, and it had hurt every time.

Looking up to the screen, Fenrir saw his Aura level was now less than half full, whilst his opponents was barely touched. Growling in frustration, Fenrir turned his gaze towards the person he was supposed to be fighting.

The person in question, grinning from ear to ear and twirling their hammer around themselves like it was a baton.

"Hee hee, this is fun, c'mon Fenrir, lets go again" Nora Valkyrie giggled out and gestured towards the Grimm to come at her again.

The Grimm's teeth ground against each other as he rolled his shoulders back and focused all of his attention on the hammer-wielding redhead in front of him.

His initial plan at the start of the training match had been to rush at Nora, hard and fast as usual. From their last battle, Fenrir knew that Nora's hammer could also turn into a rocket launcher that could deal a ton of damage from a distance [And make pink fires if his memory was correct].

Unfortunately, the moment Fenrir had gotten in close, Nora had simply switched Magnhild into its hammer form and turned Fenrir into a human Baseball.

" _So, she's dangerous in close combat and at range. Uuurrrgggghhh! These Humans really are infuriating"_

Truthfully, Fenrir was getting quite tired of this routine he had unknowingly become a part of. Whenever he stepped into the sparring ring, no matter what he did it always seemed like he was just fated to lose.

It damaged his pride every time, to the point where now, as he stared down the opponent in front of him, he felt a twinge of hesitation run through him.

A feeling of uncertainty.

Thinking back to any of his recent battles, Fenrir's mind was drawn back to the fight between himself and the older Alpha. He remembered vaguely how, at the start of the fight, Weiss had been on the ground, her sword flung far away from her.

" _I need to get that annoying hammer out of her hands. We'll see if she's still smiling then"_ Fenrir resolved with a slightly malicious undertone.

Shaking off any lingering doubts in his mind, Fenrir tensed his whole body, and then charged forward with a sudden burst of speed.

Nora's eyes lit up as the Wolf Faunus came charging at her. In one, fluid motion, she brought Magnhild round behind her shoulder and wound up to prepare to swing at her opponent.

In Fenrir's mind, time slowed to a crawl as he got closer and closer to the small red-head. He watched as Nora brought her hammer round in a wide swing, aiming to catch the side of his head.

" _Wait for it… NOW!"_

Right at the last instance, Fenrir ducked under Nora's swing and then immediately shunted all of his strength into his legs to launch himself up into the air and aim a superman punch straight at Nora's head.

Responding quickly, Nora rapidly brought the arm of her hammer up to block the oncoming strike.

Which is exactly what Fenrir wanted her to do as he switched his fist to an open hand.

The Grimm grabbed Nora's hammer with both hands, his grip tight and firm, then launched himself backwards till he was on the floor and kicked Nora with both feet in the gut.

Winded, the girl lost her grip on her weapon and was sent tumbling along the floor as Fenrir used his momentum to bring himself back to his feet.

The Alpha panted slightly as he watched his opponent get back to her feet. And then his eyes drifted downwards to marvel at the fact that he had done it, he had taken Magnhild straight out of Nora's hands.

Turning on his heel, Fenrir let out a roar of exertion as he flung the enormous slab of metal far across to the other side of the sparring ring. The force of his throw had been so great, he had actually imbedded Nora's hammer into the concrete wall.

"Hey!" Nora yelled "Not so rough with my hammer please. How would you like it if I started chucking your stuff all over the place?"

Fenrir's face was pure confusion for a second, before he shook his head and got back into the focus of battle.

" _Let's see how good you are now Nora"_

Fenrir leapt forward and aimed another swing at his smaller opponent who side-stepped it with ease. From there, it was a constant pattern of Fenrir trying to land a hit on Nora and the tiny ginger dodging his blows. With every miss, Fenrir's rage only increased.

And his ire blinded him to the fact that Nora had been very slowly leading both of them back towards her weapon.

After another wide swing, Nora dodged and backpedalled and shot an admonishing look at the now hunched over Alpha, skilfully distracting him from the fact that she was now only a few meters away from Magnhild.

"Aaawww, you can't be tired already. C'mon lazy butt, show me some Hussle".

"I… don't know… how many fights you've been in" Fenrir gasped, his eyes smouldering as he glared at the girl "But there's usually not this much talking!"

Fenrir charged again, aiming another wild cross that only connected with empty air as Nora dodged out of the way. But Nora failed to catch Fenrir's other fist rocketing toward her and catching her straight in the midriff.

"OOOFF!"

Fenrir's smile turned wicked as he finally hit the intended target. Capitalising on his opening, Fenrir brought his other fist up and over his head and then smashed it down on the base of Nora's skull.

Nora connected with the ground hard, large cracks forming out from the impact zone.

" _YES! I'm finally doing some damage in one of these fights!"_

Relentless aggression coursing through his veins like wild-fire, Fenrir grabbed Nora by her heels and, just like with her weapon, flung the small girl into the far wall.

And then he felt his eyes nearly bug out of his face as he realised he had just placed Nora right next to her hammer.

Nora rose back up to her feet, rubbing at her nose in discomfort, before focusing back on the Grimm… and beaming widely.

"Huh… nice Tag"

" _DAMMIT!"_ Fenrir screamed inside his head as he sprinted towards the girl _"I can't let her get her hammer back, I'LL LOSE!"_

Fenrir aimed a desperate overhead strike. But just as before, Nora dodged the sloppy swing and this time, reeled back a fist of her own.

"Tag back!"

THWACK!

Fenrir suddenly had a feeling, that he now knew what it felt like to be hit by a train.

Fenrir tasted concrete and blood mixing together in his mouth as he spat out rocks. Furiously, Fenrir willed himself to get back up to his feet, but it was too late. Nora had yanked her hammer free from the wall.

The last thing Fenrir saw before being sent spiralling through the air, was the circular business end of Magnhild as it rushed up to meet his face, as he knelt on the floor.

…..

"And the match goes to Ms Nora Valkyrie".

Glynda Goodwitch's calculating voice cut through the air as Fenrir lay sprawled out on the floor, trying to clear the spots away from his vision and hopelessly ignore the bitter sting of defeat as it rang loudly through his mind.

" _Even when I got her weapon away from her, I still could not secure a victory. What am I doing wrong?!"_

Looking up to the board, Fenrir saw his aura level had just dipped into the red zone [The rules had been altered slightly for Fenrir in that the second his aura was in the red, the match was immediately declared over. To avoid any 'accidents' as Ozpin had put it] whilst Nora's was still just keeping above the yellow zone. He'd done damage, but not enough to consider it progress in anyway.

To the Grimm's surprise, Professor Goodwitch actually turned to address him first, her chilling gaze cast down at the prone Beowolf.

"You had a valid strategy Mr Lupus" Glynda spoke plainly "But many Huntsmen and Huntresses have learned to adapt their fighting style should they ever find themselves deprived of their weapon. Ms Valkyrie is no slouch even without Magnhild, remember that."

Fenrir gingerly got back to his feet and tried to not look like he was overflowing with rage. Her point made, Glynda next turned to Nora and addressed her.

"Ms Valkyrie, excellent recovery of your weapon and keeping Mr Lupus's attacks at bay. But, I do have to agree with Mr Lupus, in that talking in the middle of battle is ill-advised, especially when your opponents for the most part, will be Grimm who are unable to speak".

Nora gave a mock salute and continued to smile widely.

"You got it teach!"

Glynda didn't react to Nora's response and dismissed the two combatants back to their seats, before looking down and flicking through her scroll.

"We have time for one more match before the end of class. For our last match, lets have Jaune Arc against Cardin Winchester"

Fenrir slumped down in his seat, his ears just picking out the quiet groan/whimper coming from behind him that he knew was Jaune. He would have tried to encourage or at least console the Blonde, but his mind was elsewhere right now, still wallowing in his latest defeat, from a female human who was just over half his height.

" _I need to get better, NEED to. Otherwise I might as well drop my title of Alpha and just become a regular, run-of-the mill Beowolf. That… good god that sounds horrifying!"_

"Hey, Fenrir?" Ruby pat Fenrir on the shoulder to grab his attention, her silver eyes shining with concern "Are you ok?"

Fenrir looked down at the hand on his shoulder, then to the girl the arm was attached to. He thought about letting Ruby know about his worries over not winning a single match against these Huntsmen in training, but then he dismissed that thought and simply brushed Ruby off with a wave of his hand.

"I'll be fine" He spoke quietly "I WILL get better".

"You know" Pyrrha spoke up now, on Fenrir's other side "Taking Nora's hammer away from her was a good idea that certainly surprised me. A better idea would probably have been to maybe keep her hammer and try to use it yourself. You certainly look like you'd have the upper-body strength for it"

Fenrir's anger cooled just a little bit at these words, but without his anger, he instead just grew more morose. He had thought about trying to use Nora's weapon, but the problem with that was he hadn't the slightest clue how to use it. Grimm never used weapons, their own bodies were their weapons.

"Thanks, Pyrrha" Fenrir responded automatically, then turned back to face the front, his face marred in resignation.

" _Deny it as much as I want, I can't ignore the facts anymore. As I am, I will never be able to beat anyone here"._

Fenrir was taken out of his thoughts not long after, as Jaune and Cardin stepped into the ring. Jaune with his sword and shield, Cardin with his mace. Fenrir's senses easily picked up on Jaune's growing fear as he stared down his opponent, who contrariwise was the picture of arrogance.

"Begin!" Glynda called out and the match was under-way.

The match didn't last long, in fact Fenrir would be lying to himself if he called what he had just witnessed a fight, more of a brutal beatdown by Cardin as Jaune desperately tried to get at least one hit in.

Honestly, Fenrir just felt worse for Jaune than he did for himself, at least the Alpha could put up something resembling a fight.

Then again, his opponent wasn't exactly playing fair, as evidenced when Cardin kneed him in the crotch.

" _Oof, low blow. Even Grimm try to avoid attacking that area"._

That last blow from the leader of team CRDL had been the deciding factor it seemed, as now Jaune was lying on the floor, curled up in pain as Cardin loomed above him, mace raised above his head menacingly.

Fenrir knew this was training, knew that Glynda would stop the match before things got too serious. But in that tiny moment between Cardin starting to bring his weapon down on Jaune's head, and the alarm buzzing signalling the end of the match, Fenrir had subconsciously started to rise out of his seat and place a tensed hand on his desk, as if preparing to vault over it.

It was that pull. This tiny pull in the back of his mind that had compelled him to rush out into the street to stop that child from being run over. The same pull that told him to stop those guys from terrorising that waitress from the café.

And the same pull that had made him dive forward and shove his arm in front of the older Alphas jaws to stop him from killing Weiss.

He didn't know whether to be indifferent to this odd compulsion, or to absolutely hate it.

"Cardin, that's enough".

But then Goodwitch stopped the fight, and the Beowolf let out a quiet sigh before retaking his seat, hoping nobody had seen his weird little moment.

Ruby had of course, but she kept silent, figuring the grumpy teen probably wouldn't want to talk about it.

"Students, as you can see" Glynda strode up in-between the two team leaders and addressed the class as a whole "Mr Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match".

" _Uuumm Ok, thanks for the reminder Goodwitch"._

Fenrir shook his head in confusion, before looking up at the holographic screen displaying the two guys aura levels.

" _Not even a dent in Cardin's. Oh Jaune"._

"Mr Arc, its been weeks now" Glynda admonished the Blonde in her harsh tone "Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it's better to move to a more… defensive strategy".

Whilst Glynda talked, Fenrir observed Jaune pull out his scroll and scan his eyes across the screen. Squinting, Fenrir could faintly make out Jaune's aura level displayed on the smaller device.

"Our Scrolls can do that?" Fenrir questioned aloud.

"Oh yeah of course they can" Ruby answered excitedly "Here I'll show you".

Before Fenrir could protest, Ruby swiped Fenrir's scroll that was attached to his hip and started messing around with it. Not long after, Ruby shoved the scroll back into Fenrir's face. Leaning back and grabbing the device, Fenrir did indeed see his own Aura level now flashing up on his scroll, along with a picture of his own scowling face.

" _Huh, well I guess that'll be useful when I'm out in the middle of a REAL fight"_.

"We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now would we?" Glynda attempted to make humour of the situation, though it was undermined when she very briefly side-eyed the Wolf Demon sitting not a few meters away from her.

" _I saw that Goodwitch, you can't hide your disdain from me"_ Fenrir thought bitterly.

"Speak for yourself".

Fenrir's tail whipped through the air as he bristled with anger as he caught those last few words from Cardin's mouth.

" _He is really getting on my nerves!"_

Fortunately, Cardin returned to his seat and the Grimm didn't have to look at his irritatingly smug face as his attention was brought back to Goodwitch.

"Remember everyone!" The elder huntress spoke aloud, addressing the whole class "The Vytal festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practising!"

Fenrir looked around himself as the entire classroom erupted into a fit of excited mutters and whispers. Ruby was practically bouncing in her seat she was so full of energy.

" _What is that noise she's making?"_ Fenrir asked himself in amusement as he continued to just watch Ruby bounce and wiggle, with a raised eyebrow and an upward tug at his lips.

He certainly found her reaction humorous in just how over the top it was.

"Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale" Glynda finished just before the bell rang, signalling the end of class.

" _Tournament… festival… these are a lot of new words I've never heard before. Vytal… could that be related to Vytal island by any chance"._

Fenrir was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a tiny tingle of negative energy to his immediate left. Turning to face the source, Fenrir was actually surprised to discover that Pyrrha of all people was the source of the negativity.

" _I don't think I've felt a negative emotion from her once since coming here"._

Frowning in concern, Fenrir prodded the Spartan girl on the shoulder with a clawed finger.

"What's wrong?" Fenrir asked in his usual blunt manner.

Pyrrha jumped a little in slight pain as once again, Fenrir was to heavy-handed and just pierced Pyrrha in the shoulder-blade. When she finally registered the Grimm's question, she looked uncomfortable and just resumed looking ahead of herself.

"Oh, it's nothing Fenrir. You don't need to worry about me"

Fenrir didn't buy the lie for a second. Following the girls line of sight, Fenrir saw that Pyrrha was watching Jaune as he hung his head in a combination of embarrassment and shame.

"You are concerned for him" Fenrir deduced aloud. It made some sense to the Alpha, Pyrrha and Jaune were partners and teammates, it would be natural for her to worry about his combat ability, or lack thereof.

Still, as an Alpha, Fenrir had been taught that a good leader was one who was able to show that they were the leader for a reason, that they were a pillar of strength and the picture of confidence. If the followers spent too much time worrying about the person they were supposed to be following, their own abilities would suffer for it.

" _And in battle, that can be a death sentence"._

Attempting to take Pyrrha's mind away from her worries, Fenrir lightly shook the girls shoulders and attempted another one of his supposed 'smiles'.

The effect was more terrifying than comforting.

"He'll be fine".

While Pyrrha had been a little shaken by Fenrir's forcibly stretched expression, she understood that he was trying to help and nodded at him in confirmation.

Still, her worries were still present, even with the Grimm's assurances that her leader's skills would improve.

Even Fenrir himself wasn't 100% confident in his own words. He didn't know if Humans were as fast-learners as the Grimm or if Jaune would even be able to improve at all. But then he remembered the conversation him and the Blonde had shared in the hallway a few days ago.

" _He has a legacy to live up to. That can be a strong motivator, and he wouldn't even be here if he didn't want to at least try to live up to those expectations. Better to leave him be for now."_

Finished with trying to be encouraging, Fenrir packed up his stuff and joined the throng of students leaving the classroom.

" _More importantly"_ Fenrir mused to himself _"I need to find out just what exactly is this 'Vytal festival' that's got everyone so amped up"._

… _.._

Making his way through the crowd, Fenrir eventually re-grouped with team RWBY and, thoughts still on Glynda's most recent announcement, decided to ask one of the smartest Humans he knew to give him some insight into the subject matter.

"Weiss?".

The Heiress looked over her shoulder to see the midnight-haired teen striding up to match her pace.

"Yes Fenrir, what is it?"

"Goodwitch, she was talking about a 'Vytal festival'. I don't know what that is, could you explain for me please?"

"WHAT!"

Out of seemingly nowhere, Ruby shot right up into the Alpha's face and clung to his jacket. Fenrir, very quickly snapped his eyes shut to avoid seeing those bright red rose petals that even now, haunted his nightmares.

"How could you not know about the Vytal festival" Ruby asked incredulously, a frenzied look in her silver eyes "It's the biggest event in all of Remnant, everyone knows about it!".

"Ruby" Blake spoke up, once again attempting to be the voice of reason "Remember who exactly your talking to".

Ruby appeared confused for a second, before realisation flashed across her face and then she smiled sheepishly up at the dumbfounded Grimm.

"Oh, right yeah. Of course, sorry Fenrir".

Letting go of Fenrir's jacket, Ruby backed away from the Beowolf and stared down at the floor in embarrassment. Fenrir simply smoothed out his rumpled shirt front and looked back towards Weiss.

Weiss had her head in her hand as she sighed in exasperation at her leaders antics and then regained her composure to answer Fenrir's earlier question.

"The Vytal festival is an event celebrated across all four kingdoms in Remnant, held once every two years. It was created just after the end of the Great War".

Fenrir listened to Weiss with rapt interest, the group still making their way towards the cafeteria.

"Oh" Fenrir exclaimed "Is it named after Vytal island?"

"Correct" Weiss nodded in approval "The leaders of the four kingdoms figured it appropriate, seeing as that was the place where the Great war was officially ended, that they name the festival celebrating equality and peace after such a place".

"Individuality and self-expression were some of the core reasons why the Great War was fought in the first place" Blake interjected "The festival was created to bring all the kingdoms together in one place and celebrate what makes us equal **and** what makes us unique."

Fenrir almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. He did not ever think, in a million years that humanity, of all the races on Remnant, would create something like that.

" _An event that celebrates both unity and individuality amongst the whole Human race. That sounds like something my kind would support fully"._

He thought that because it so very easily lined up with the Grimm's beliefs. Individually, all Grimm strived to be the best warriors they could be, as a group they all worked towards one, common goal.

One, singular drive, all pushing them forwards.

"The Festival has a whole assortment of events included in it" Weiss carried on "From cultural dances, to a parade and finally…"

"A tournament between different teams from all four Huntsmen Academies to see who's the best of the best!" Yang yelled, pumping her fists forward in the air and making Weiss let out a strangled cry of indignation.

"You… all fight each other?" Fenrir questioned.

"In a basic sense, yes" Weiss huffed "Though it's all non-lethal and there are many rules and regulations in place to keep it from getting too violent".

"Weiss makes it sound boring, but trust me Fenrir, it's one of the coolest things you'll ever see. I mean I see it every time it comes around, I still remember the first one I watched when I was five Ithoughtitwassocoolallthedifferentteamsandweaponsandsemblancesjustflyingallovertheplacewasjustsoawesomeandexcitingand just AAAAAHH, I'm so ready for it you know?"

Fenrir's mind completely failed to keep up with Ruby's words as she talked at a million miles a minute. What he could make out, was that this was clearly a big deal to the younger girl, and she was clearly very excited for it.

And he couldn't really explain why, but just hearing Ruby talk so feverishly about the tournament, was starting to get Fenrir excited. Perhaps it came from the Grimm's inbuilt, competitive nature, or maybe it was another by-product of having a copy of Ruby's aura, either way, the idea of facing off against a multitude of highly capable fighters from all across the globe, all trying to prove who was the greatest of them all, was something that sounded very enticing to the hot-blooded Alpha.

"Ruby, don't talk his ear off like that. And don't call me boring!" Weiss reprimanded the younger girl.

"That sounds amazing!"

Team RWBY was all of a sudden taken aback by the pure, undiluted honesty and eagerness that came from the normally guarded and uncaring Grimm beside them. Ruby in particular noted how Fenrir's normally dark blue eyes, had suddenly taken a much lighter shade with an almost invisible… sparkle to them.

And then the Beowolf took notice of his own little outburst and rapidly shook off his enthusiasm to replace it with his more typical indifference, eyes going back to their usual dark navy.

"I mean… it sounds like a very big event".

Ruby made to correct the Alpha on how he'd just said he thought it sounded amazing, only for Yang to clamp a hand round her mouth.

"Yeah, it's really something. But, it's still a fair few months away so need to get too caught up in it right now. Come on guy's or all the good stuff will be taken before we get there".

Hastily, Yang dragged Ruby along with her whilst the rest of their team struggled to catch up and Fenrir just stared after them in confusion.

"Yang, what are you doing?" Ruby questioned with irritation in her voice "He just said he thought it sounded cool".

"I know, and its great" Yang countered "But then he backtracked on himself, which means he hadn't meant to come across so excited. I like teasing the guy don't get me wrong, but if we tried making him repeat himself now, he'd just get grumpy and probably wouldn't speak to us for the rest of the day. Do you want that to happen…? **Again**?"

Ruby pouted a little, as she did indeed remember one time a few days ago, where the girls must have taken their teasing a little too far and Fenrir just completely gave them the silent treatment for the rest of the day.

"Ugghhh, fine" Ruby whined.

"That was actually very mature of you Ya…" Weiss made to compliment the Blonde brawler, but then Yang opened her mouth again.

"Don't worry Rubes, later down the line, we'll bring it up again in a conversation and he'll be so thrown off he won't know how to react. I can see it now, and it will be hilarious."

"Oh, for goodness sakes".

And just like that, the four were back to their usual selves, talking loudly amongst each other.

Fenrir meanwhile, simply trailed from behind, staring down at his hands as he was lost in thought. The Vytal festival did indeed sound like quite the spectacle, and Fenrir did feel slightly hopeful that maybe he would be able to participate, but then he just kept looking at his hands.

His small, weak, Human hands.

" _Even if I ignored the fact that I don't have a team"_ Fenrir thought, his mood sinking ever lower with every word _"The fact is I only barely know how to use this body, I can't even use my Aura without it attacking me and I don't have any weapons. All this and trying to go up against Huntsmen in training from all over Remnant, is basically me asking for failure"._

Fenrir felt frustration build up inside of him as all these facts just kept piling on top of him and suddenly, Fenrir wasn't all that excited for the festival.

Not if he'd only be able to sit on the side-lines and just _watch_.

Every passing day it seemed, only served to make Fenrir feel even weaker than he had felt before.

" _But what can I do?"_ Fenrir asked himself, following behind the energetic girls at his usual, slow pace.

" _How can I change something that seems so unchangeable?"_

… _._

"So, there we were, in the middle of the night…"

"…It was day".

"We were surrounded by Ursai…"

"…They were Beowolves".

"DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of'em".

Fenrir was only half-paying attention as Nora was telling the whole table some bizarre tale that she'd just started recounting out of nowhere, with Ren superseding her after every sentence. He wasn't fully paying attention because his mind kept getting distracted by the constant anxiousness and concern emanating from both Ruby and Pyrrha who were both right next to him. It seemed they were now both worried about the lanky, Blonde leader of team JNPR who was also generating his own well of negative energy, though his was directed inwards.

It was funny, back when he was just an Alpha, the presence of a negative emotion would instantly get him riled up, ready to sink his teeth into Human flesh.

Now, after being surrounded by it nearly constantly, it just made his head ache.

"But they were no match" Nora continued, completely unbothered by Ren's interruptions "And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs".

Nora finished her story and crossed her arms, smiling proudly. Ren just sighed and shook his head.

"Ah… She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now".

"Woah, Fenrir you okay?" Yang asked as she heard Fenrir's fork clatter onto his tray.

Fenrir had just turned as a pale as a sheet and his pupils had shrunk to pin-pricks as he processed what Nora had just said.

" _Ursa…skin…Rugs. But Ren just said they were Beowolves. So, they were Beowolf rugs?!"._

Slowly, Fenrir craned his head up to look Nora dead in the eye and spoke in a hollow tone.

"Please, don't take my skin".

Silence.

And then both Nora and Yang exploded with laughter. Fenrir failed to see anything humorous about the horrifying mental pictures he was having.

"I'm serious!" He yelled.

From directly beside him, Weiss tutted as she filed her nails and shot Fenrir a withering look.

"Fenrir, Grimm skin rugs don't exist, you evaporate when you die remember?"

" _Oh… yeah, right."_

Fenrir now felt incredibly stupid.

"Besides" Nora piped up cheerily "You're not an Ursa, I wouldn't do that to you".

Fenrir was still doubtful, but then Ren added his own statement.

"Neither of the Beowolves had scars on their chests, so they weren't you. You don't have to worry".

That did make the Alpha feel a little better.

"Oh yeah" Yang exclaimed "Do you still have that scar in your Human form?"

Fenrir quirked a bushy eyebrow at the Brawlers question, before tugging the right-side of his sweatshirt collar down to reveal the start of the long, red line that began at his collarbone and ended just under his heart.

"Cool" Yang whistled.

Fenrir put his collar back to its usual spot and fought to keep the proud grin off his face.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool".

"Jaune, are you okay?"

From the other side of the table, Pyrrha suddenly spoke up and voiced her concerns towards her leader. The rest of the table went silent as Jaune realised he was being spoken to.

"Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?"

"It's just that you seem a little… not okay" Ruby replied.

Fenrir could practically taste the growing tension in the air, even Blake had stopped reading her book in order to listen in. His clawed fingers drummed across the table as his awkwardness increased.

" _Are we really having this conversation now?!"_

"Eh, guys I'm fine" Jaune addressed the table "…Seriously, look!"

Jaune offered a wobbly thumbs up and an awkward smile, chuckling nervously all the while.

" _It's incredible how unconvincing you sound. Even without my sixth sense, I can tell you're lying"._

The rest of their group didn't look like they believed it either.

Suddenly, Fenrir was brought out of the conversation as his Lupine ears picked out the sound of familiar, mocking laughter echoing from a few tables down. Looking down the cafeteria, Fenrir quickly spotted Cardin Winchester along with the rest of his team.

And they were all circled threateningly around Velvet.

Like a spark near a tanker full of Burn Dust, Fenrir's rage exploded inside of him and surged like fire through his body. Hackles rising in the back of his throat, Fenrir gripped the fork in his hand so tightly he actually bent the metal in half.

"Does he ever stop?!" Fenrir snarled out, fighting the urge to rise from his seat and shut that annoying laughter up.

After learning Cardin's name, Fenrir took it upon himself to learn the names of the rest of his little group, to know who to stay away from at all times. The shortest of their team, with the green mohawk and the only one out of their team not wearing armour, going instead for a more urban look, was Russel Thrush. The one with light brown hair, swept to one side and equally brown armour was Dove Bronzewing. And finally, the second tallest, with combed back, dark blue hair and steel-grey armour was Sky Lark.

"Sadly… no" Yang muttered bitterly. She had been one of the people who had gotten annoyed with Cardin and his gang the fastest, resulting in a very brutal fight between herself and the group that ended with all of them facing a week's detention.

After that, team RWBY had reluctantly agreed to just try and ignore team CRDL's harassment and move on with their lives.

" _Stuff like this though"_ Yang thought _"Doesn't really make that an easy thing to do"._

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school" Pyrrha carried on, seemingly oblivious to the growing commotion nearby.

Jaune however, had noticed judging by the way he was clenching his fist and looking off to the side, so no one could see his face.

" _Well at least I'm not the only one who's annoyed by his stupidity"_ Fenrir thought dryly.

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asked, as if he didn't know who they were talking about "Nah… he just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes!".

Fenrir was in disbelief. Was Jaune _Defending him?_ What sense did that make?

"He's a bully" Ruby replied, looking surprisingly serious.

"He's a brain-dead thug" Fenrir added.

"Oh please" Jaune scoffed "Name one time he's 'bullied me'".

Everyone on the table shared a look with one another and then all turned towards Jaune who let out a nervous chuckle at all the flat stares he was receiving.

"How about all those times he knocked your books out of your arms whenever you were walking down a hallway" Ruby started off.

"Or that time where he activated your shield and left you stuck in a doorway, that I had to pry you out of" Fenrir added immediately after.

And then one by one, everyone started listing all the various things Cardin and his lackeys had done to Jaune during his time here, Fenrir adding some of his own from what he had seen them do when no one else was around.

"Or! That time where he stuffed you in a rocket propelled locker and sent you flying out of Beacon!" Pyrrha closed off when everyone else had run out of things to say.

After that had all been said and done, everyone just continued to give Jaune very pointed looks.

"Seriously, he did that?" Fenrir asked Pyrrha disbelievingly.

"It was before you showed up, but yes" Pyrrha confirmed.

"I didn't land far from the school" Jaune attempted to weakly argue against the points levied at him, but at this point the battle was already over for the blonde.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just ask" Pyrrha spoke earnestly.

Fenrir meanwhile just frowned to himself, his fingers steepled together in front of him.

" _That's easier said than done Pyrrha"_ The Beowolf mused to himself _"I know that if it were me in his situation, I'd prefer to handle it myself. Maybe that's what he's trying to do, but I haven't even seen him attempt to deal with those goons by himself"._

To this day, Fenrir still hadn't told any of them about the constant death-threats he got from the other students or the mobs of Huntsmen-in training he would occasionally get waiting outside his door, and he had made no plans to tell them.

He knew it was a problem, and he'd sort it out on his own. There was no need to get the others wrapped up in his messes.

" _Otherwise I should just take my title of 'Alpha Beowolf' and just scrap it down to 'Omega Beowolf' or some garbage like that!"_

"OOH!" Nora exclaimed, jumping up in the air "We'll break his legs!"

Everyone looked up in stunned silence as Nora beamed with excitement, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"YES! DEFINITELY!"

And then that shock was magnified tenfold when Fenrir stood up and agreed with Nora's idea, an equally sinister looking gleam in his dark blue pools as he showed off nearly all of his teeth.

"No! No leg breaking for either of you!" Ruby admonished as she brought Fenrir back down by his jacket sleeve.

Nora awwwwww'ed and Fenrir huffed grumpily.

"Just when one of you has a good idea" He whispered to himself.

"Guys, really, its fine!" Jaune spoke as he rose up from his seat, empty lunch tray in hand "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone".

" _Well, that's true"_ Fenrir nodded, conceding to the fact that Jaune was no doubt just going to keep on denying the obvious and deflecting everyone else's concerns _"Well, we tried. Not much more we can do now, not with the violent option being shoved off the table"._

"Ooww, that hurts!"

All at once, a cry of pain lanced through the air, attracting the attention of everyone nearby. As Fenrir looked over towards the commotion, he felt himself actually black-out for a second due to all the pure, undiluted **HATRED** surging through his veins at what he was witnessing.

Cardin was yanking Velvet towards himself… by her ears.

The rest of team CRDL just watched on as their leader abused the Rabbit Faunus, laughing as he did it.

Fenrir could barely think, barely see, his arms were trembling, and his jaw was clamped tight, his teeth grinding up against each other.

And once again, Fenrir felt that same tugging sensation in the back of his skull telling him to stand up, go over there, _Do something._

" _If I do anything, I'll just end up in even more trouble. I might even get kicked out of the school forever"_ Fenrir thought hesitantly, doubt swirling in his mind along with his fury.

"Please, stop" Velvet quietly begged as she was given another firm yank by Cardin.

"Haha, I told you it was real" The thug of a leader completely ignored his victims pleas and instead turned to address his companions.

"What a freak!" Russel commented amongst the malicious cackles of his friends.

That tipped Fenrir over the edge.

" _To hell with it!"_ He screamed inside his head _"To hell with this school, to hell with the rules_ _ **, AND TO HELL WITH YOU CARDIN WINCHESTER!"**_

From the corner of her eye, Ruby watched as Fenrir visibly tensed up and his breathing came out hard and low, with his tail whipping behind him threateningly, the fur bristling up like a cat.

"No, Fenrir don't…" Ruby panicked, already knowing what would happen if Fenrir got involved.

But Fenrir just shoved the silver-eyed girl's hand away and was already away, his boots thudding loudly as he stomped towards the group of males.

"Ha look, I can make her sound like a squeak toy, watch thi… Oh what do you want now dog?"

Cardin noticed the Grimm stalking towards him with a face like a thunder and pointedly, did not let go of Velvets ears. He noticed the rest of his team looked uneasy at the sight of the very angry looking Beowolf, but he gave them a harsh glare to keep them in place.

"Fenrir...?" Velvet whimpered as she looked up from her awkward angle to indeed see the giant of a Faunus getting dangerously close to Cardin's face.

"Let…her…go!" Fenrir's voice was eerily low as he growled at the leader of team CRDL, his face twisted up into a mask of rage.

From behind him, both team RWBY and team JNPR looked on uneasily as Fenrir placed himself in the line of fire.

"Oh, why should I do that Grimm? You got a thing for Flopsy here or something?" Cardin questioned with that insufferably cocky grin on his face.

Fenrir didn't know what Cardin meant by 'A thing' but at this point, Fenrir couldn't be bothered to ask.

"I said let her go. NOW!" Fenrir repeated himself, and he had no plans of repeating himself again.

Cardin for his part, continued to look unafraid of the monster bearing down on him, and instead got even closer to the Alpha and pulled velvet along with him.

"No" He spoke plainly "Do you want to know why I won't let go mutt. Because you can't do anything to stop me. You even lay a finger on anyone here and that's it, your gone, Ozpin will kick you out of Beacon with your tail between your legs".

Fenrir wanted so badly to shut this moron up, but with every word the brunet said, Fenrir realised his logic was sound. Fenrir couldn't fight back, if he did it would all be over, he'd lose his one safe Haven in all of Remnant.

" _I… I can't do anything to him"_ Fenrir realised with horror, and with that realisation, Fenrir suddenly felt completely disgusted with himself over his inability to even help someone in trouble.

Slowly, Fenrir's rage faded and in its place was only shame and bitter resentment. Looking around himself, Fenrir saw that his yelling had attracted the attention of pretty much all the students in the cafeteria.

And the Grimm could see it in their eyes, they were all just waiting for him to snap. Some of them even had their scrolls on standby, fingers hovering over the last button needed to call for their lockers and the weapons stored inside.

They were all waiting, _to kill him._

There was nothing he could do.

Looking down towards Velvet, Fenrir could see the pain and also the doubt in her eyes, and the dagger of shame just twisted itself even further into his core.

Dark blue gazed down at chocolate brown.

And blue looked away.

"Ha! Look at that, you can actually see him deflating" Cardin chortled, and the rest of his team joined in as they too saw, that the big bad Grimm, had lost his fire.

"Okay, you had your moment. Go sit in the corner and think about what a waste of space you are" Sky added on.

"He's right go on. Get lost" Russel jeered.

Fenrir hated all of this. Ever since becoming human, he'd just felt like he was getting weaker and weaker. And now that feeling had reached his conclusion.

" _These emotions are what have made us weak"_ A sinister voice whispered in his mind.

"Now, where were we little bunny" Cardin turned back to his original prey and yanked on her now bruised ears.

Fenrir heard a cry of pain.

Saw the beginning of tears forming in Velvets eyes.

Felt her pain… her fear.

And the fires of rage… reignited into a blazing inferno.

" _NO! YOU WON'T PUSH ME AROUND! NO HUMAN SHALL EVER LOOK DOWN ON MEEEEEEE!"_

"If I remember right we were still talking abou… Are you serious?"

Fenrir had grabbed Cardin's arm so fast no one had seen it happen. Looking towards the Wolf Faunus's face, Cardin could see the raw, malefic hatred burning away in the Grimm's eyes.

Yanking his arm back out of the Grimm's grip, Cardin let out an annoyed sigh and rolled his shoulders.

"You don't learn do you, dumb dog".

Before Fenrir could even react, Cardin shot forward and punched Fenrir straight in the jaw.

"GAAAHH!"

Fenrir exclaimed in pain and stumbled backwards, the punch harder than he'd expected it to be. From behind him, Fenrir heard an almost silent gasp come from Velvet. Looking up, the Alpha saw the older girl clutching her hands in front of her face, terror written all across her body.

" _No running now"_ The softer voice spoke in his head now, but now it had a determined, hardened edge to it _"Now is the time to fight back"._

Fenrir felt the beginnings of a smirk.

" _Happily"._

"You all saw that right?" Cardin, obliviously, gestured to the crowd, arms outstretched and gloated "He attacked me. I had to defend myself from the rabid Mutt. Nothing wrong with tha…"

CRACK!

If Fenrir was sent stumbling from Cardin's punch, then Cardin practically did a backflip through the air from the force of the Grimm's returning blow. Fenrir stood, muscles clenched, and jaw locked as he glared at the rest of team CRDL who were all gaping at him in shock.

" _Now"_ The Beowolf thought to himself as the other three stood up and brought themselves into their own fighting stances _"I'll show you all, why I AM AN ALPHA!"_

Just before it all kicked off however, Fenrir locked his gaze towards the Rabbit girl one last time. For one, last moment, Fenrir's face softened, and he spoke gently towards the silently terrified girl.

"It's alright… This won't take long".

And then the fight began.

 _[A/N: Doing something a little different here. If you'd like some battle music to go along with this little action scene, might I recommend this little number I listened to on repeat whilst writing this bit:_

 _watch?v=RG8YTAoRWEQ]_

Russel charged towards the Grimm first, aiming a fist at the Alpha's head. Dodging to the side, Fenrir grabbed the offending limb and then spun once, twice, and then threw the green-haired male through the air, colliding hard with a stone pillar.

His back turned, Fenrir didn't see Sky coming from behind to deck the Grimm on the back of his skull, the blow sending Fenrir skittering forwards. Capitalising, the blue-haired teen roughly grabbed Fenrir by the back of his head and slammed him into the floor.

Fenrir felt the pain of the blows, but his Aura held strong. So instead, Fenrir blocked out the pain and just put more fuel into his anger and elbowed Sky's arm off his head, then quickly rose back up to his feet to deliver a brutal right hook to Sky's gut, then an uppercut to the chin, and finally a straight jab to the nose that sent the smaller male flying backwards into the table, the wood breaking in half on impact.

Next was Dove. Aiming a left swing at the Brunets head, Fenrir quickly realized that the narrow-eyed boy was probably the most competent of the team combat wise as he blocked the swing and grabbed Fenrir's other arm, locking it in place, and then kneed him in the stomach.

Fenrir let out a pained gasp as he clutched his centre. Dove then delivered a hammer blow to the Alpha's spine that sent Fenrir straight down to the floor. Coughing, Fenrir only just caught in the corner of his vision, Dove's armoured boot coming towards his head.

Just in time, Fenrir held the foot in place and then shoved the thing away, rising back to his feet at the same time. Dove was knocked backwards and off-balance, Fenrir would have taken advantage of this.

Were it not for Cardin charging in out of nowhere.

"YOU STUPID, MANGY WOLF!"

In the brief second Fenrir saw the team leaders face, he could tell from the blood streaming down the boys nose that he'd broken it. He would have been pleased with himself, if Cardin hadn't immediately given him an Aura charged punch to the Solar Plexus that sent him flying across the cafeteria.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir crashed on to a hard-wooden table, half-eaten lunch trays and cutlery sent flying from the impact as Fenrir rolled across the table and then tumbled to the floor. Shakily, Fenrir got back up on all fours and then looked behind him.

And then he looked above him to see Cardin high up in the air and preparing to deliver a dive kick to the Grimm's head.

Right before impact, Fenrir rolled out of the way, bits of rock being kicked up by Cardin's strike. Getting back to his feet, Fenrir shunted himself forward and began his assault on the team leader.

Fenrir launched blow after blow towards Cardin's head, But the Brunet kept his guard up and countered when he could, resulting in another punch to Fenrir's chest that sent the Alpha stumbling back.

Right in time for Russel to return to the fight and deliver a spinning heel kick to Fenrir's unprotected head. The Alpha spat blood as he recoiled from the strike and then sent a death glare towards the mohawked teen.

Again though, Fenrir paid the price for not paying attention as Cardin swooped in and tossed Fenrir across the floor like a tin can.

Right into the ready stances of both Sky and Dove.

Russel came sprinting in from behind, but this time Fenrir was ready and delivered a vicious backhand behind himself that caught the small teen right across the cheek and sent him sliding backwards.

Dove charged in and delivered a kidney punch to Fenrir's side, then locked his left arm in place. Sky did the same to his right arm. The two worked furiously to keep the thrashing Grimm in place as Cardin strode forward, ready to deliver a beatdown to the little Beowolf.

Fenrir saw Cardin coming and decided that, rather than try to get the two goons off him, he decided to give them a ride instead.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

With a furious yell, Fenrir summoned all his strength and lifted both boys up into the air by their breastplates. The two boys exclaimed in shock but not much else as they were soon sent rocketing back to the ground.

Not done yet, Fenrir grabbed Sky by his heel and lifted him back up into the air. Right on time, Dove started to get back to his feet, just to see Fenrir bringing Sky back down on top of him.

" _I'll beat a Human, WITH ANOTHER HUMAN!"_

Unfortunately, Fenrir had to let go of his club, on account of Cardin delivering another savage hook to his head, then kicking him in the back of his leg, and then bringing him up by his neck and choke-slamming him into another table.

"That was the stupidest thing you could've done" Cardin snarled from above Fenrir as he wrapped both hands around the beasts neck "Now, even if you win, you won't leave this cafeteria alive. Not that that'll happen of course"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRRRGGHHHH!"

Roaring through his clamped throat, Fenrir grabbed Cardin by his insufferable face, claws digging into his temples, and spun the two of them around so now Cardin was on the table.

And then Cardin did the same to him.

And then Fenrir, thoroughly annoyed, Grabbed Cardin by his neck and slammed him down through the table itself.

And then, Fenrir furiously whaled on the boy beneath him.

Right, left, over and over, not even stopping to breathe. All he could think about was turning Cardin's head into fleshy paste.

But then his assault as someone grabbed him from behind and hoisted him off the tallest Male by his waist.

Sky had jumped back into the fray, and slammed Fenrir into the ground in a German suplex.

"Gah!" Fenrir let out a strangled gasp of pain as his neck took the brunt of the blow, and before he could even get back to his feet, Dove delivered a kick to his stomach and sent him rolling along the floor.

Fenrir's aura had taken a beating by this point, and the other four were still standing, even Cardin.

But it hadn't broken yet.

"Your looking a little tired Grimm!" Cardin called out mockingly as Fenrir used a nearby table to support himself on his shuddering legs "Maybe you should transform again, give yourself a little power boost, show us all what you really are!"

Fenrir grew concerned at that comment, and if he took any more big hits like the ones before, they might just get their wish.

" _Gotta put these guys down, fast!"_

Looking to his side, Fenrir analysed the table he was currently using to support himself, felt its weight and heft in his hands. Then he looked up at the people still sitting down on the thing, their mouths agape at the bloodied and bruised Beowolf in front of them.

"Get off!" Fenrir growled.

The students might as well have teleported they jumped off the table that fast.

Cardin signalled towards Sky and Dove, and the two stalked forward toward the Grimm.

Big mistake.

Clenching down on the table so hard the wood splintered beneath his fingers, Fenrir brought the entire table around with one hand and swung it at the two approaching students with blistering speed.

Dove was the unfortunate recipient of the table to the face tactic that Fenrir had just invented and was sent pin-wheeling through the air and crashed against the far wall.

Letting go of the improvised weapon, Fenrir broke out into a sprint and charged towards the leader of the group. Cardin was ready for the Grimm and brought his fists up in front of himself.

But as Cardin made to swing at the Alpha's head, Fenrir simply ducked down and kept sprinting past Cardin, only to tackle Sky in the chest and carry on running with him in tow.

Sky punched and elbowed Fenrir in the sides and on the back, but the Grimm fought through the pain and didn't stop running until he had driven Sky into the back wall of the cafeteria.

As Sky slumped to the floor, Fenrir brought his heavy boot up and kicked Sky straight in the head. This time, Sky actually was sent through the wall and out the other side. Fenrir watched as a light blue sheen flickered across Sky's body and then sputtered out of existence as the boy laid on the floor out cold.

" _One down"_

Turning around, Fenrir was met with the sight of a dark green ball spinning towards him. The ball, it turns out, was Russel using his 'Spindash' semblance to propel himself toward the Grimm and deliver a series of bicycle kicks to Fenrir's chest and face.

Fenrir was overwhelmed at first, but then he reclaimed his bearings and slashed at Russel's side with his claws, batting the annoyance away in the process. Russel rolled off to the side and clutched his ribs in pain as the Grimm's claws had actually left slash marks in his hoodie.

Dove charged in not a second later and kicked Fenrir in the ribs. Fenrir grunted and fell down to his knees. The narrow-eyed boy circled around the panting Wolf and then aimed a right hook towards his face.

Fenrir looked up at the boy, his eyes flashing a burning red. And then he brought his fist up to meet Dove's mid-collision.

"CRRRRRRRRCCCCKKKKK!"

A sick, crunching sound echoed throughout the cafeteria that was then followed up by a lot of people wincing in pain as Dove's knuckles and wrist broke upon contact with the Alpha's fist.

"Ooooooh, that looked like it hurt!" Nora yelled from somewhere in the back as both team RWBY and JNPR watched on in stunned silence as their Grimm friend stood his ground against the four boys. Most of them like Ruby and Jaune were worried for the leather-wearing teens safety, but then there was Nora and Yang who were just simply enjoying the show.

Fenrir growled as he stalked towards the brunet, who was clutching his hand in pain and backing away from the enraged Grimm.

" _Where do you think you're going?!"_

Fenrir moved forward with a sudden burst of speed and prepared to finish the boy off with an uppercut from Hell.

Unbeknownst to the Grimm, but noticed by everyone else, his fist started to glow bright blue, with the beginnings of frost starting to form on his knuckles.

"BAM!"

Fenrir's uppercut caught Dove right on the chin, and sent the boy soaring up into the air, and out through the ceiling.

All the nearby students [Ruby included] Covered their faces with their arms as they were suddenly pushed back by a gust of freezing cold wind.

Fenrir stared up in amazement at the hole he had just made in the ceiling, and then at the slight blueish glow around his arm.

He exhaled, and white mist came flowing out of his mouth.

" _Oh… Oh no!"_ Fenrir paled as he realised what he'd just done, and the consequences that would no doubt follow _"Nonononono NO NO! I didn't mean to do that. OH GOD NOT NOW NOT NNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Fenrir roared in pain as his Aura, yet again started to attack him, his whole-body shuddering and spasming as blue energy sparked off his form.

Cardin looked on in confusion, but then smiled maliciously as he put together what was happening.

" _So that's why he never uses his Aura, because he can't!"_

Cockily, Cardin swaggered up to the struggling Alpha and grabbed a nearby lunch tray and swung it like a baseball bat at the Grimm's head.

Fenrir, with all the muscles in his body seized up, was unable to even block the oncoming blow.

The tray caught the side of Fenrir's face hard, and the Grimm was knocked back onto the floor.

His Aura faded, and Fenrir suddenly felt exhausted.

He was much slower to rise now, his legs shaking beneath him. Cardin looked over towards his one remaining teammate and pointed harshly at the downed Beowolf.

"Hurry up and finish him already!" He yelled.

Russel nodded and activated his semblance, turning himself into a spinning ball of pain heading straight for Fenrir.

Fenrir saw the ball coming towards him and grit his teeth in agony as he willed his feet to get back under him.

" _Can't… stop yet. They're… not down!"_

Fenrir watched as Russel came shooting towards him. The way he was spinning through the air… it reminded Fenrir of a Boarbatusk.

And Fenrir knew a lot about Boarbatusk's, including their weak-spot.

Fenrir poised himself, ready to catch Russel at just the right moment. Then, just before the mohawk-haired teen collided with the Grimm, Fenrir stuck his arm into the middle of the spinning ball and caught Russel right in the belly.

Russel wheezed as the sails were knocked out of him. Fenrir grabbed the boy by his head and by his ankles, lifted him up into the air, and then brought him down, spine first, on to his waiting knee.

A green shimmer covered Russel's body and then shattered as Fenrir rolled the boy onto the floor, clutching at his back and groaning lowly.

" _Three… down!"_

Turning to face Cardin one last time, Fenrir was knocked back as the leader of the brutes punched him with both fists in the chest. Fenrir's boots skidded along the floor as he fought to remain upright.

"AAGGGRRRKKKK! GAAAHHHH!"

Fenrir yelled in pain as he took a step forward, a sudden, stabbing pain pierced the right side of his chest. Something had broken, he could feel it.

His Aura was running on fumes now, one more hit and it would break.

And if it did, he would be in serious trouble.

"Come on!" Cardin yelled, looking a little beat up himself but nowhere near as bad as Fenrir "Change! You know you want to!"

Fenrir could feel the monster inside of him, itching to be let out and cause havoc. It would be so easy, so very easy to just give in to his rage completely.

Breathing raggedly, Fenrir looked across the room, at all the people watching on, some of them with their scrolls still out, yet they hadn't pressed the buttons. The negative energy in the room told Fenrir that most of them were hoping for him to lose, some even calling out to Cardin to hurry up and win the fight.

And then he looked further and saw team RWBY, circled around Velvet as they watched him with uncertainty racing through their minds.

Fenrir saw Yang clenching her fists, looking like she was on the verge of running into the fight herself, if not for a hand from Blake on her arm, holding her in place.

" _Wait… Yang!"_

Suddenly, Fenrir was brought back to weeks ago, when the Blonde Brawler had first approached him, next to a punching bag.

" _Just a bit of advice, one would be huntsman to another, keep your arms close to your body, you swing too wide, which means you're wasting energy on your wind-up. Focus your strikes and…"_

Looking down at his hands, Fenrir felt steely determination course through his veins like electricity.

" _No Cardin. You're not worth my true form!"_

"Why Cardin?" Fenrir asked aloud, purposefully goading the muscular Brunet with a manic grin on his face "You saying… you can't even beat me like this? Hehe… Just how WEAK are you?"

That got the desired reaction, as Cardin sneered in anger and started walking towards him.

Wincing and groaning in pain, Fenrir brought his arms up in front of him, close to his chest, with his fist raised near his head, ready to block at a moment's notice.

Yang's eyes widened as she realised that Fenrir had just taken up a familiar stance. A boxers stance.

 _Her stance._

Cardin threw a punch towards the Grimm, but Fenrir simply moved to the side and shot a jab that caught Cardin right on the cheek.

Cardin threw another punch, Fenrir moved to the other side and delivered two jabs, one after the other, to his temples.

Cardin stumbled back, Fenrir brought his arms right back to their locked position, focusing on keeping his breathing level and even.

" _Stay calm! Focus the strikes. Don't let him hit you, not even once!"_

And from there, a pattern was set.

Fenrir would duck, dodge and block Cardin's blows, and deliver blisteringly quick blows to the body and face, before retreating back a step and regaining his stance.

Slowly, but surely, Cardin was being pushed back.

Fenrir had blocked out all sound by this point, but if he hadn't, he would caught the cheers and yells of some… select individuals.

"YEAH! Go on Wolfy, take him down!" Yang yelled, fists pumping in excitement.

"Work the body, get inside him!" Nora shouted, seemingly trying to outdo Yang in the volume department.

Ruby… was silent, but secretly willing Fenrir to keep going, keep fighting.

" _Stay downstairs! Left, right, left!"_

Fenrir yelled out commands in his own head as he delivered multiple gut punches to Cardin's stomach, his arms working like pistons trying furiously to bring his opponent down.

Fenrir pushed Cardin back, his opponent staggering all across the floor now. His aura was low, Fenrir could sense it.

Cardin, growing desperate, tried to tackle Fenrir to the ground. The Alpha merely spun out of the way, Grabbed Cardin by the back of his breastplate, and lobbed him towards the back wall, the stone cracking on impact.

" _Gotta… finish this… NOW!"_

Fenrir's thoughts were starting to turn hazy as he sprinted towards the team leader, he was running out of time, he needed to end the fight.

Fenrir booted Cardin in the head, the back of his skull bouncing off the wall. The Alpha then picked Cardin up by his head and then slammed his head into the concrete once, twice, then hit him in the gut.

Then a left hook.

Then a right.

Then a series of body shots that sent Cardin reeling back.

Then an uppercut.

And finally, Fenrir shunted every last drop of his strength into his right arm and punched Cardin dead centre in his face. Pieces of rock fell off the wall from the impact.

A bronze coloured Aura appeared around Cardin for a moment, before fading away as he slumped down to the floor.

It was over.

The Alpha had won.

 _[A/N: end music]_

But Fenrir was still a raging fire of hate.

The Alpha, high on adrenaline and drunk on victory, grabbed Cardin and slid him along the floor. Grabbing his hair roughly, Fenrir snarled into the barely conscious boys ear.

"Get this through your thick skull **MEATBALL!** " Fenrir growled out, his voice barely sounding human as his eyes kept flickering from blue to scarlet **"You mean nothing to me! I have fought and killed real Huntsmen and Huntresses with ten times the power you have! TRY THIS AGAIN AND I WILL TEAR OUT YOUR INTESTINES THROUGH YOUR** _ **FILTHY DUSTLING MOUTH!"**_

The crowded cafeteria stared on in silent horror as Fenrir snarled and frothed like a feral animal. Fenrir's claws slowly started to extend as his brain grew more and more twisted and dark with every second.

" **Dispense with the threats, just kill him, kill him now and they'll all fear us! They won't ever try to hurt you again!"**

"FENRIR STOP!"

A choked yell halted Fenrir in place. Looking up with hellish red eyes, Fenrir saw Velvet had somehow ended up standing right in front of him, shaking in her boots she was so scared.

"Please, stop" She whispered, hoping beyond hope that the Beowolf would listen.

And then, Fenrir's eyes slowly shifted back to dark blue, and his face laxed in panic as he released Cardin's head and looked down at the floor.

" _No… no. I… I messed up again."_

Fenrir felt sick as he realised he'd come so very close to losing his temper completely, and now Velvet looked even more terrified of him than before.

He'd just made things worse for himself… again.

"Velvet… I…"

Fenrir didn't get much time to talk however as he was suddenly enveloped in a lilac coloured haze.

And then he was thrown backwards and pinned up against the wall.

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The crowd parted like a sea as Glynda Goodwitch came striding through the aisles, her face as cold as a glacier as she held the Grimm in place with her Telekinesis. All around her, the damage caused by Fenrir's and CRDL's skirmish was being rapidly repaired.

Fenrir panicked and started desperately trying to break out of Glynda's hold to no effect, fully aware of what was about to happen and unwilling to stick around to see it.

"You were warned Grimm" Glynda snapped, her voice cutting through the air like a whip "You were given multiple chances to turn your self around, and every time you've given in to your rage and placed my students in danger. This can't go on!"

Glynda was now right in front of the trapped Alpha, whose eyes were now darting round the room, furiously looking for a way out.

"No… wait" He begged weakly.

Glynda brought her riding crop about, intending to finish the Grimm in one blow.

"No professor don't kill him!"

A flurry of rose petals suddenly assaulted Fenrir's vision as Ruby Rose held her arms out wide, as if trying to block the Grimm from view.

Not long after, the others joined the silver-eyed girl to stand in front of Fenrir and cut Goodwitch off.

"Miss Rose stand aside" Goodwitch commanded sternly, but Ruby merely shook her head.

"They started it" Yang gestured to what remained of team CRDL, shouting in indignation "Fenrir just defended himself"

"Cardin was deliberately provoking Fenrir, and multiple times throughout the fight, tried to get Fenrir to transform into a Beowolf, but he didn't" Weiss added in a far more composed tone.

"He was only trying to help Velvet" Blake added, capping off everyone else's thoughts.

The crowd was silent, unsure of who exactly to side for.

Glynda regarded the girls standing in front of her harshly, before looking to the side to see the Rabbit Faunus in question, shuffling about in obvious discomfort.

"Miss Scarlatina is this true?"

Velvet literally looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. She looked around herself, her eyes finally coming to rest on the Alpha Beowolf who had just fought like hell for her, still fruitlessly struggling against his restraints and panting from exhaustion… and fear.

He didn't want to die.

"He… He was only trying to get me out of there. He didn't start the fight" Velvet finally spoke, a collective sigh of relief coming from the four girls.

"She's lying!" Cardin amazingly, had gotten back to his feet and was now trying to look like the victim in this scenario "He attacked my team for no reason. He was gonna…"

"Quiet!"

Glynda now turned her harsh gaze towards the Brunet, for once shutting the boy up. Glynda stared back up at the struggling Grimm, not saying a word for a solid minute, before sighing and gently dropping him back down to the floor.

Fenrir hissed in pain as he clutched at his side as he was released, barely able to keep himself standing.

" _Yep, that's definitely a broken rib"._

"You!" Glynda suddenly turned and spoke to a random student who jumped in surprise "Get up on the roof and retrieve Mr Bronzewing and take him to the infirmary, you two do the same for Mr Lark and Mr Thrush".

Finally, Glynda looked at both the leader of team CRDL and the downed Grimmborn, hitting them both with a smouldering glare that actually sent shivers down Fenrir's spine.

"You two, in my office now!"

With that, Glynda turned and walked off, expecting the two boys to follow suit.

Slowly getting to his feet, Fenrir grimaced as he walked forwards, though the grimace wasn't just from pain.

" _This… is not gonna be fun"._

 **A/N: … I swear I'm not making these chapters long on purpose. Well there we are, a return to canon events and a fight that a fair amount of people have been requesting for some time now. A lot of planning and re-writes went into that scene so I'm interested to hear you guy's thoughts. So please, send me your reviews, send me your P. M's, give me your CRITICISMS, every little bit helps.**

 **In the meantime, I'm gonna write up part 2 which hopefully won't be as long… maybe.**

 **See you then.**


	21. Chapter 21: Jaunedice part 2

**A/N: Back again. No big action scenes this time around, just the fallout from the previous chapter whilst carrying on with canon events. See you at the end, enjoy the show.**

 **Also, thank you so much for 500 Followers. I hadn't even projected this story hitting that milestone by the end of the year, so this truly warms my heart and blows my mind that I already have so many people here just reading my ramblings and crazy ideas.**

Ruby was in an awkward position, she could clearly see Fenrir was in a bad way from the way he was holding on to the side of his chest and wincing in pain, yet when she tried to offer him support, he simply brushed her arms aside and growled out a quiet "I'm fine" before shuffling himself forward on trembling legs.

Silently, the cafeteria watched as Fenrir struggled to keep up with Glynda's long strides but followed after her anyway. Cardin simply stood in disbelieving silence, before a second, scathing glare from the veteran Huntress kicked him back into gear and he got moving.

Unfortunately, just before leaving, Cardin shot one last hateful glare towards the Rabbit Faunus.

"You and I" He sneered, his nose still leaking blood "We're not done".

Velvet visibly shuddered, fighting the urge to hide behind someone bigger than her as Cardin finally left the area.

"You okay Velvet?" A quiet voice to her left piped up.

Looking down, Velvet saw Ruby gazing up at her with concerned eyes. Slowly, the whole cafeteria started to come back to life, people milling about to and fro, most of them furiously discussing the Superhuman fight they had just seen between first year team CRDL, and the leather wearing, midnight-haired Grimm known as Fenrir Lupus.

"I… I'm okay Ruby" Velvet spoke in what she hoped was a comforting way, trying to dissuade any lingering worries in the younger girls mind.

Even though Velvet felt anything but okay.

She had initially felt cold terror grip her soul when she had first seen the Alpha stalk towards her as she was being bullied once again by Cardin and his group.

And then, when he had started fighting them off, and he had turned to her and spoke in perhaps the softest tone she had ever heard him speak in…

" _It's alright… this won't take long"._

…She had felt, strangely comforted by his words. Some small part of her mind told her after he had spoken with such conviction in his voice, that he would come out the winner, even as he was being beaten into the ground she had still felt hopeful, certain of his victory.

And then her emotions flipped right back around to terror as she watched Fenrir snarl and shout right in Cardin's face, claws poised and ready to carve flesh from bone. After begging him to stop, he had turned his eyes towards her, and Velvet felt paralysed as she locked eyes with the Grimm.

His eyes, that burning, crimson red. The eyes that only a Grimm could have, flaming with hatred and malice, bored right into her very being and left her feeling completely powerless under his gaze.

All of these conflicting emotions created a mess in the poor Rabbit Faunus's mind and left her feeling more uncertain about how she felt towards the Alpha, than she had felt before the whole fiasco even started.

Whilst Velvet was stuck in a conflict inside her own mind, Pyrrha was glaring at the doorway Cardin had just walked out of. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she turned back to the others and spoke her mind.

"Atrocious, I can't stand people like him".

"He's not the only one" Blake said as she narrowed her eyes, a different breed of contempt lying hidden beneath her golden eyes.

Yang simply let out a long sigh and crossed her arms.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus".

Meanwhile as the girls continued to talk amongst themselves, Ruby found herself getting increasingly more distracted and concerned as all around her, people started to talk about their Grimm friend.

"Did you hear what that monster said?".

"Talking about how he's killed Huntsmen. Acting like he was proud of it, makes me sick!"

"I've got to get out of this school! I don't care, I'm not going to be in the same building as that PSYCHO!"

All around her, Ruby could almost feel the disgust in the air as Fenrir had just inadvertently painted an even bigger target on his back.

"You don't think Fenrir will be kicked out for this, do you?" The small red-head asked aloud to her teammates.

Yang grimaced "At this point Ruby, I think wolfy will be lucky if he isn't killed for this".

"Saying… what he said at the end certainly didn't put any good will in his favour, that's for sure." Weiss added with a slightly disturbed look.

Because she honestly was unnerved by Fenrir's words, how he'd talked about killing, murdering Huntsmen and Huntresses like it meant nothing to him.

It reminded her once again that under the surface, their wolf Faunus friend was in fact a rage filled, hate riddled killing machine that most definitely had blood on his hands.

Off to the side, Jaune watched as his friends talked amongst themselves, and then his head lowered to stare at the floor forlornly.

Because while everyone else was worried or revolted by the Alpha's behaviour, Jaune only felt envious of the Grimm.

" _Because he didn't hesitate"_ Jaune reasoned with himself _"He saw Velvet was in trouble and he just moved. Even beaten and bloodied he didn't back down. Me… I saw, and I did nothing, what does that say about me if a GRIMM can do more than me"._

His mood quite effectively lowered, Jaune let out a quiet sigh and walked off, away from the cafeteria, away from his teammates.

And futilely, away from his own tumultuous emotions.

….

Cardin had been taken into Glynda's office first, leaving Fenrir waiting outside, pacing the floor in steadily rising anger, his tail whipping behind him and his hand still tightly gripping the side of his chest.

He was furious, livid, because he could feel the deceit emanating from the other side of the wooden door in front of him. No doubt, Cardin was currently spinning some web of lies that would make him out to be just an innocent victim who was attacked by Fenrir for no reason at all.

" _And she'll believe it!"_ Fenrir sneered, his fangs glinting in the midday sun as he bared his teeth to the world _"She's been wanting me out of Beacon since day one. Well fine, I don't care anymore! If she won't listen to the truth,_ _ **THEN I'LL JUST BEAT IT IN TO HER STUPID SKULL!"**_

As Fenrir's thoughts started to yet again grow twisted and sadistic, that soothing voice echoed through his mind, and instantly brought Fenrir back to reality.

" _Stay calm"_ It whispered _"Your anger is what constantly gets you in to these situations, if you stay calm, you can come out of this unscathed. You know the truth of what happened, so tell the truth, you can't do any more than that."_

Fenrir let out a low growl of aggravation, that quickly transitioned into a hiss of pain as his rib once again stabbed at his sides.

"Aaagghh shhhiiii…"

It wasn't completely broken as Fenrir had initially assumed. It was more like a hairline fracture upon closer inspection, but that didn't mean it didn't still hurt like hell.

" _Really hope this heals soon. Can't be dealing with this irritation all day"._

Speaking of irritations, Cardin chose that moment to exit the Blonde Huntresses office, his face as angered as a thunderstorm as he slammed the door behind him.

The two locked eyes, Cardin scowling whilst Fenrir did his best to remain as neutral as possible, despite the fact that he still held some lingering rage towards the brown-haired brute.

"Don't think that this means you're better than me Dog" Cardin jeered "The next time we face each other, I'll have my mace, and you'll have nothing. We'll see if your feeling so big and strong then".

Having said his piece, Cardin stalked off not even looking behind him. Good thing too, because Fenrir's face was slowly shifting into a vicious scowl that would give a grown man nightmares, a vein visibly pulsing on his forehead.

"Mr Lupus, inside now!"

Glynda's voice called out from inside her office, breaking Fenrir out of his anger induced haze, and instead replacing his ire with dread as it was now his turn in the hot seat.

" _Uuugghh… Lets just get this over with"._

Purposefully going as slowly as possible, Fenrir plodded into the moderately sized office that was practically Glynda's second house at this point in her life.

But then, Fenrir stood fully upright, eyes wide as he realised Glynda wasn't the only occupant of the room.

" _Oh for Oum's sake. What, what did I do Oum, what did I do?! Did I eat your dog? Why have you Gotta be like this to me?!"_

"Take a seat Mr Lupus" Ozpin spoke gravely, his eyes staring through the Alpha above his tinted glasses. His face was set in that combination of extremely tired and moderately disappointed that just drove Fenrir up the wall.

" _Stop looking at me that way! I don't owe you anything, YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER!"_

Shaking off his agitation, Fenrir gingerly sat down in the simple, wooden chair. Both Glynda and Ozpin took note of how Fenrir was favouring his right side, leaning across the chair in an awkward position.

"So, would you care to explain your side of the story?" Glynda cut straight to the point, her face professionally neutral.

Fenrir scowled, the tiniest growl escaping from his lips as he already felt his anger flare up.

"What's the point, you've already made up your mind" He snarled.

Glynda visibly frowned at Fenrir's hostile posture.

"Comments like that certainly won't help your case Grimm, neither will losing your temper"

"Nothing I say will change your mi…AAGGHH!"

Fenrir had made to stand up to get closer to Goodwitch's face, but the second he rose up from his chair, his chest flared up in pain and he sat right back down, tightly clutching his ribs.

"You are injured" Ozpin stated matter-of-factly "If you aren't up to talking right now, we can take you to the infirmary".

Fenrir rubbed at his chest, before turning his angered face towards the headmaster.

"It's nothing!"

Squinting, Ozpin could see a tiny wisp of black smoke starting to dribble out of the corner of Fenrir's mouth.

"Fenrir" Using the Grimm's first name snapped Fenrir out of his staring match with the two veteran Huntsmen "You need to calm down. If you can't even attempt to explain yourself without losing control of your own emotions, then we have to assume that what Mr Winchester told us, was in fact the truth. And that certainly won't bode well for you".

As he talked, Ozpin gestured to the corner his own lips. Fenrir looked off to the side and realised with a start that a tiny trail of inky black smoke had started to come out of his own mouth. Furiously clamping a hand around his mouth, Fenrir tried to get his heartrate to slow down and get his mind to focus.

His Aura was but a sliver of what it normally was, meaning he was still in the danger zone. Closing his eyes, Fenrir focused on his breathing and tried to clear his head of any lingering fury.

" _That's it, stay calm"_ The soft voice whispered soothingly, acting like a wave of cool water, dousing the fires that burned away in his core _"Keep a level head. Explain your side of the story, they'll know you speak the truth"._

Slowly, Fenrir's muscles finally relaxed, and his face lost some of its tension. The black smoke started to evaporate in the air, until it disappeared completely. The Alpha let out a slow exhalation of air before looking back up to the two professors, his eyes fully back to their dark blue.

Nodding, Ozpin turned to look at his assistant head and gave her a slight nod, an indicator that it was safe for her to proceed.

"Okay, lets try again" Glynda muttered aloud, looking almost as exhausted as the headmaster himself "What, in your own words, just happened in the cafeteria?".

Fenrir still felt like he'd just be written off the second he opened his mouth, the world had been freakishly unfair to him the past month, why should it stop now. Still, he had to try, if for no other reason than to get Ozpin to stop looking at him like he'd let the older man down somehow.

" _I don't know what you expect from me Ozpin, but I know its too much for me to ever meet"._

So, as calmly as he could, Fenrir recounted everything that had happened in the cafeteria not a few minutes ago.

From him simply sitting and talking with teams RWBY and JNPR, to seeing team CRDL harassing Velvet and pulling on her ears.

He even told them about how he had initially hadn't wanted to fight, fearing that he would only get himself in trouble, or worse ganged up on and killed by every student in the room. Finally, he told them about the fight itself, as best as he could remember it at least. Finally, Fenrir told them about how he'd openly threatened Cardin and had come very, VERY close to losing his grip on his self-control.

"If Velvet hadn't stopped me" He grumbled quietly, annoyingly unable to meet Ozpin's eyes "You wouldn't have gotten the chance to ask him what happened".

Glynda and Ozpin both shared grave expressions as Fenrir bared all to them, the wolf Faunus too worn out to even try to lie.

"I just wanted to get Velvet out of there" Fenrir said, almost forcing the words out as he grit his teeth in agitation "What they were doing… It wasn't right! I couldn't just stand there and let them do what they want".

That gave Ozpin a little more hope, knowing that while he had been a tad too aggressive and vicious in his approach, Fenrir's anger had come from a good place this time around.

" _A desire to protect, now where does that come from I wonder? Another side effect of Ruby's Aura being grafted onto his body, or does this perhaps stem from his own heritage of wanting to protect the planet from what he deems to be the 'true monsters'?"_

As Ozpin thought to himself, Glynda continued to frown sternly at the now silent Beowolf.

"Letting them bully Miss Scarlatina is unacceptable in your eyes, but threatening to brutally mutilate and kill them, whilst talking about how you have in fact KILLED Huntsmen and Huntresses in the past, is completely acceptable to you?"

Fenrir wanted to argue against Glynda's remark, but truthfully, he couldn't argue her logic. Talking about how Cardin was in the wrong for what we did, whilst also screaming literal bloody murder, did look a bit hypocritical on his part.

All was quiet for a while, before Fenrir finally worked up the nerve to look at the Grey-haired man who had been completely silent for a long time. At last, the Headmaster finally spoke.

"Firstly Fenrir, I'd like to say I believe you completely when you say you had no intention of starting a fight, I also believe you when you say that Mr Winchester and his teammates were the true aggressors in this fight. So in short, I thank you for your honesty".

Both Fenrir and Glynda widened their eyes at Ozpin's words, though Glynda recovered faster as she reluctantly, had to agree with her superiors words. The Grimm had been completely honest with them, though after Cardin's… fanciful story and what she already knew of the brutish leader of team CRDL, she was weirdly more inclined to believe the Alpha Beowolf.

"However" Ozpin continued, and Fenrir felt his sense of hope crumble away along with it "Professor Goodwitch is also correct in saying that doesn't make what you did right or the best course of action. I know you still view humanity as… a nuisance, but you can't have those views anymore, or at least display them so publicly, it will only make peoples distrust of you even stronger, give them all the more reason to attack you. As much as you wish it were the opposite, the fact is that kind of behaviour simply will not be tolerated in this academy".

With every word from the headmaster, Fenrir felt his mood sink further and further into the pit of his shoes. He was unnerved by just how ashamed he felt as he listened to Ozpins slightly saddened tone.

" _Stop it! I… I shouldn't feel like this, you're just another human, so why do I feel like I've let you down?"_

"In the end, the details of your punishment will be handled by Professor Goodwitch, but I will say this to you Mr Lupus" Ozpin stated, the firm look in his eyes telling Fenrir he would say this only once "You cannot let this happen again. If another situation like today arises, you either notify a teacher, or you try to take down the situation passively. As of now, you are too violent and ill-tempered to be allowed to fight, you cannot be trusted to not take things too far. If something like this happens again, and you lose yourself to your rage, well Mr Lupus, I'm afraid their will be only one outcome to that scenario. And you already know what that is".

" _Exile, maybe even my death"_

Fenrir stared down at the floor, his expression sombre, unable to look the older man in the eye. In just a few moments, the Alpha had gone from feeling the rush of victory over beating down Cardin and his goons, to now just feeling guilt-ridden and slightly sick.

Fenrir muttered, almost silently, his ears flat against his head and his tail wrapped tight around his waist. But both Ozpin and Glynda caught what he said.

"Yes sir"

There was quiet for a moment, Ozpin not entirely sure what to think of the Grimm calling him 'sir', but eventually both parties got hold of themselves and Glynda moved to wrap up this discussion.

"Grimm, you will come to my office everyday for the next two weeks for detention and additional assignments. Be thankful that's ALL you're getting; Cardin's punishment is much longer than yours. Now that will be all, you may leave".

Seeing no reason to stay, Fenrir slowly got back to his feet and walked out of the claustrophobic office. Just before he left though, the Beowolf looked behind himself and narrowed his eyes at the Blonde Huntress.

"I have a name" He whispered bitterly "Please call me by it"

And with that, he left, unlike Cardin, closing the door gently behind him.

…

Looking at the time, Fenrir saw he had a few minutes before afternoon classes began, so he decided to take his time and mull over his thoughts as he walked towards Ooblecks classroom.

" _All in all, that could have gone a lot worse, I suppose"_ He reasoned with himself _"But Ozpin and Glynda are right in saying that my anger keeps getting me in trouble. But what am I supposed to do then? My anger is all I've ever had, I can't just give it up"._

As Fenrir walked through the bustling corridors, another hot spike of pain lanced through his side, causing him to hiss in pain and clutch the wall to stop himself from falling to his knees. A few people gave him some odd looks as they passed by him, but nobody even asked if he was okay.

Looking down at his ribs, Fenrir caught the sight of a dull, blue glow emanating from underneath his clothing. His Aura was slowly starting to replenish itself, and as it did, it made steady work of repairing his damaged ribs.

" _Huh… I suppose this borrowed Aura of mine does have its uses… when it isn't attacking me that is"_

Figuring it best to just let the blue glow do its thing, Fenrir straightened himself up and carried on walking forwards, the pain in his side slowly starting to ebb away.

" _I need to be careful from now on. I'm on thin ice, I can't make any more mistakes like today, or it's over for me"._

Not long after, Fenrir finally found himself inside Doctor Ooblecks classroom. Scanning the room, Fenrir eventually caught the familiar faces of Blake and Pyrrha and made to move towards them.

And then he stopped, unsure if any of them would even want to speak to him after what they saw him do.

But then, the scarlet-haired spartan noticed his half-hearted approach, and actually waved him over.

"Fenrir" She called out quietly, looking at the uncomfortable Grimm with concerned eyes "Are you okay?"

Realising he now had no way out of this, Fenrir groaned quietly and quickly sat down in-between Blake and Pyrrha.

"I… I'm okay" He spoke softly, trying to not be noticed by anyone else, the last thing he wanted to be feeling right now was everyone else's negative emotions towards him "I've got detention for the next two weeks, but I think I got off easy considering…"

Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief, even Blake seemed to lose some tension in her face.

"Well that's a relief, Ruby will certainly be glad to hear that you won't be leaving us anytime soon"

Fenrir nodded silently, looking forwards at the clock hanging on the wall.

"How's Velvet?" Fenrir turned to ask Blake.

"She's a little shaken up" Blake spoke bluntly "But if you want to know really badly, you can just ask her yourself, she's in this class too"

"WHAT!"

Fenrir yelled, then immediately ducked down to avoid the questioning glances from the students around him.

"Why is Velvet here?!" He whisper yelled, fists clenched tight.

"She has some catch-up work to do for professor Oobleck" Pyrrha spoke in a soothing tone, attempting to calm the now clearly panicking Grimm "If you catch her after class is over, maybe you could try to apologise to her, I'm sure she'd understand".

Fenrir ran his hands through his black and blue hair, looking more and more frantic with every passing second.

And then he felt a light pressure on his shoulder. Looking to his side, the wolf Faunus saw Blake leaning forward, her hand on his shoulder, shaking it lightly.

"You're overthinking things. You managed to apologise to Weiss Schnee and she, of all people, forgave you. This will be no different from that".

Fenrir stared down at the hand on his shoulder, before letting out a long puff of air, and got hold of himself.

"Right, sure"

Having settled down, Blake removed her hand from his shoulder and put on her usual air of quiet indifference.

Fenrir drummed his fingers across the wooden desk, looking around awkwardly, before finally working up the nerve to say what was on his mind.

"By the way, thanks for… you know, not letting Goodwitch cut my head off. You didn't have to do that".

It pained him, having to show gratitude to Humans, and yet a small part of himself was glad he'd done it.

Pyrrha smiled happily at the Grimm, acknowledging his thanks, whilst Blake just gave him a far more sly smirk.

"That was painful for you to say wasn't it?"

Turning to look at the cat Faunus with narrow eyes, Fenrir tried to scowl at the girl, but was unable to stop that weird wobble from twitching on his lips.

"Very, do not expect me to do it again."

Blake let outa quiet huff that may or may not have been a chuckle.

"Of course".

With all that settled, the three turned to face the front, Fenrir closing his eyes and once more, feeling that strange warmth in his chest that he felt oddly comforted by.

" _Yeah, could have been much worse"._

…..

Not long after, the rest of teams RWBY and JNPR came into the class, and each of them had come up to Fenrir to ask how he was and whether or not he was being executed tomorrow. It was truly alien to the Grimm, having this many people inquiring into his wellbeing.

Not that he hated it, it was just… strange to him.

" _These Humans are truly strange creatures"_

Both Yang and Nora made comments about how much they loved Fenrir kicking CRDL to the curb and Fenrir didn't even try to hide as he puffed out his chest in renewed pride.

That thing had taken a battering over the past several weeks, it would drink in whatever praise it could get.

Weiss lectured him on how reckless he had been and how he should count himself lucky that he had gotten off as softly as he had. The Alpha had no argument there.

Ren… was Ren and just nodded to him. Fenrir just responded in kind.

Ruby was a bit more reserved than her sister but seemed equally joyous that her Wolf friend was okay. Before leaving, Ruby whispered into his ear that she thought what he did was pretty cool too.

Jaune… oddly enough simply asked if he was okay, and when Fenrir assured him he was he just nodded and walked off, head hung low, not even meeting the Alpha's eyes.

" _That was weird. What's up with him?"_

Subtly probing at Jaune's emotional state, revealed that a very sudden wall of negative energy was surrounding the blond boy.

A wall of envy.

At first Fenrir wondered, what could Jaune possibly be envious about regarding the Beowolf. Then he remembered, he hadn't been the only one who had seen Velvet being tormented.

" _Ahh. Well, that's going to be something I'm going to have deal with quickly. Don't need that on my conscience"._

This was all nice and everything. But as more and more people came into the classroom, Fenrir was treated to his usual, constant jabs of negative energy drilling away at the back of his skull.

Only worse now.

Some people actually, openly threatened him as they walked by. The language some of them used was… colourful.

Pyrrha shot him a worried look, fearful of his reaction. Fenrir merely shook his head, sighed through his nose and didn't even look back at the retreating students who had told him how they'd corner him when he'd least expect it and 'Get some well-deserved justice'.

Fenrir had no time or energy for any of them. Their words were just empty air to him, why would he ever be intimidated by that?

Then Velvet showed up, that got a livelier reaction out of the tired Alpha.

The two saw each other almost immediately and froze like they'd just been encased in ice.

Velvet looked just as fearful as before.

But then, she took a seat in the front row, just underneath where Fenrir was seated.

Fenrir stared down at her in confusion, but she didn't turn to look up at him. He wanted to talk to her, explain himself and at least try to make amends to the older girl.

But then that softer voice kept him seated.

" _Not now, there's not enough time. Wait till later, when you can talk to her without having to hurry"._

So, Fenrir stayed in his seat, though he didn't feel good about it.

Finally, just a few minutes before the bell was due to ring, Cardin and his gang strode in.

Fenrir very pointedly looked at the floor until they had passed by him. He didn't know how he'd react if he so much as looked at the brainless thug, so he thought it best not to take any chances.

Fortunately, Oobleck himself came speeding in not a few seconds later, and when it came to the green-haired professor, you had to be completely focused on him at all times or else you would miss a whole term papers worth of information. The man had a mouth that wouldn't stop for anyone.

So Fenrir got a break from the negative energy surrounding him, because everyone else was now trying desperately to keep up with the history professor.

The lesson this time around, was apparently going into something called the 'Faunus Rights Revolution', which apparently, was a massive conflict between Humans and Faunus that occurred sometime after the Great War.

Whilst Oobleck continued to zip around the room, constantly downing shot after shots of coffee in between breaths, Fenrir watched out of the corner of his eye, Jaune slowly losing his grip on the conscious world and drifting off to sleep.

" _Bad idea Jaune"_ Fenrir thought to himself _"I did that once, woke up to Glynda standing above me. That was… unpleasant"._

"Yes! Yes prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War" Oobleck carried on, speaking a mile a minute "Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie".

" _Ah Menagerie, that's where I came from. At least, that's the lie Ozpin tried to spin back when I was just Fenrir Lupus the Wolf Faunus, and not Fenrir Lupus the Grimmborn"._

Oobleck gestured to the giant map behind him, using a pointer to show where exactly Menagerie was located underneath all the layers of graph paper and newspaper clippings Oobleck had just left on the map.

Finally looking at this landmass that Fenrir had heard a lot about but never seen, known as the place that housed more Faunus than any other continent, the Alpha only had one thought on his mind.

" _It looks so… small"._

Indeed, Menagerie was the smallest of all the continents. And apparently, Humanity had wanted to take all the Faunus on Remnant and place them here.

" _That would not have been a pleasant way of life. Amazing that Human's would reject such a valuable asset simply for the fact that it is different from them"._

It was points like this, that reminded the Grimm just why he despised Humanity as much as he did. Not only were they greedy, they were incredibly self-destructive. It made him wonder if the Grimm were actually needed, maybe they should just wait a few years and let the Human race blow itself up.

"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you" Oobleck continued "It is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events".

" _That's true"_ Fenrir mused, his mind trying to sift through all of the information he had only recently acquired _"The Faunus war started what… Forty years ago? Lasted five years altogether. A lot of people here might have Elders who were alive at that time"._

"Why the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

Oobleck took another long chug from his seemingly bottomless cup of coffee, and zoomed back to the centre of the room, the Alpha already feeling a migraine building up behind his eyeballs from trying to keep track of the Green-haired man.

"Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"

Fenrir blinked at that sudden question, before looking around the room to see what the reaction would be.

A small collection of hands rose up into the air, some slower to rise than others. Fenrir turned to stealthily look at Blake out of the side of his eye. Turns out, Blake was also staring at him and the two shared a knowing look.

Neither of them raised their hands.

" _I'm dealing with a very different type of subjugation. It would be unfair to the Faunus if I lumped my problems in with theirs."_

Speaking of Faunus, Fenrir then brought his eyes downwards to see what Velvet would do. The Rabbit Faunus looked around fearfully, before timidly raising her own hand.

"Hhhmmm" Fenrir grumbled, shaking his head slightly _"Someone like that, doesn't deserve to feel that kind of isolation. Wait what!"_

Fenrir shook his head, his thoughts turning very bizarre. There were no innocent Humans, he'd always believed that.

Still… some people Fenrir realised, maybe weren't as guilty as others.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful" Oobleck remarked, shaking his head "Remember students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance, that breeds violence".

Fenrir nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with that statement. Humans were nothing if not ignorant, it's what made it so easy for Fenrir to sneak up and attack them in the past.

"I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang" said Oobleck.

Fenrir's brows furrowed in confusion. He'd never heard of the White Fang, though he suspected they had something to do with the Faunus.

Suddenly, Fenrir felt a massive surge of very, very dark energy pulsing out from his right. Looking to the source, Fenrir saw Blake staring ahead with an expression that Fenrir couldn't even begin to describe.

 _Anger… guilt… regret… pain…_

All of these emotions, swirling around that dark maelstrom in Blake's centre, that also existed in Weiss's centre. Every time Fenrir saw these dark wells, he found himself becoming more and more intrigued by their presence.

He wanted to unravel them… find out just what they were.

But then he'd shake himself out of it and reason that it was simply none of his business.

" _I do not care, you will not make me care"_ The Alpha recited to himself, cringing at how that mantra felt more and more hollow every time he said it.

"Now" Oobleck called out, snapping Fenrir out of his stupor "Which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?"

" _Wait for it"_ Fenrir counted down the seconds in his head, knowing a certain Heiress was just a row above him.

"Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle" Weiss responded dutifully.

"Precisely!" Oobleck confirmed, whilst Fenrir felt like slapping himself in the face.

" _Oh right, that battle with the stupid name. How did I forget that?!"_

"And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Fenrir searched through his memory. He'd only read this book recently, he remembered how the Humans suffered a crushing defeat in this battle, but how?

"Hey!"

The silence was broken by the sound of Jaune letting out a startled yelp. Looking down in confusion at the scraggly Blonde, who had a few minutes ago, been fast asleep, Fenrir spotted a tiny wad of paper skittering along the floor.

And Cardin holding his hand out… as if he'd just flicked something.

" _Uh oh"_ Fenrir frowned.

"Mr Arc!" Oobleck shouted as he teleported right in front of the half-awake boy "Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"

Jaune was like a deer caught in headlights as he frantically looked around the room, trying to find a way out of his situation.

To his left, Fenrir saw Pyrrha start to shuffle in her seat, subtly trying to get her team leaders attention.

"Uhhh… The answer…" Jaune floundered, Oobleck staring directly at him "The advantage… Of the Faunus… had over that guys stuff…"

Whilst Jaune continued to stall for time, Pyrrha started making some rather bizarre hand signals next to the befuddled wolf Grimm. First pointing to her own eyeballs, then cupping her hands around her eyes. At first didn't have a clue what the girl was doing, but then his mind clicked and put the pieces together.

" _Oh right, the general tried attacking them at night. That was the big mistake"._

Deciding to help out the spartan with her charade act, Fenrir pulled open his own eyelids and looked round the room exaggeratedly.

"Um, B-binoculars!"

Turns out all that miming was for nothing.

A chorus of laughter erupted at the boy's answer, with Cardin being the loudest and most obnoxious of them all, whilst Pyrrha simply placed her head in her hands and sighed in exasperation.

Fenrir took it a step further and slammed his head on the table.

" _Jaune… just… How did you get that so incredibly wrong?"_

"Very funny, Mr Arc" Oobleck sighed, not looking the least bit amused. Turning his attention towards the raucous laughter, the history teacher called out to the boy above where Jaune was sitting. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject".

Fenrir had to seriously fight back the urge to audibly groan.

" _No! Not that twit, what makes you think he has anything interesting to say?"_

"Well" Cardin spoke, sounding quite bored "I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier".

" _And I was right, nothing interesting at all"._

Fenrir wanted to lay into Cardin all over again, just his voice was enough to set him on edge right now. But surprisingly, Pyrrha actually beat Fenrir to the punch.

"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you Cardin?"

"What? You got a problem?" Cardin said angrily.

"Several!" Fenrir snarled, his blood already starting to heat up as he felt his patience diminish rapidly.

Thankfully, a firm tug on his elbow by Blake, kept him rooted in his seat.

"No, I have the answer" Pyrrha responded in a far calmer manner, now looking towards the bespectacled professor "Its night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark".

Cardin growled lowly as Pyrrha had effectively shown him up. Following on from the Scarlet-haired girls answer, Blake carried on explaining how exactly the Humans lost that particular battle.

"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured".

Fenrir saw Cardin get more and more frustrated, and because he was incredibly petty, he decided to add on top of Blake's statement.

"The General was young, but he had already established connections with higher-ranking officers and commanders" Fenrir said, his gravelly voice carrying throughout the whole room "When the Faunus captured him, they forced him to reveal many secrets and battle strategies that the Humans were planning to use on the Faunus. That is why this battle was considered a turning point, because from then on, the Faunus knew everything their enemy knew, and were able to keep one step ahead of them".

Oobleck nodded to the three of them, a tiny smile on his face.

"Quite correct you three!"

Looking to his side, Fenrir regarded Blake with a look of mock wondering.

"You know, apparently it didn't take all that much to get the general to start talking".

Blake saw what Fenrir was doing, and blatantly looked directly at the Brunet glaring at the both of them.

"Hmmm, you might be right Fenrir. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure".

A resounding 'Ooooo' followed Blake's sly jab at Cardin, who in turn actually started to rise out of his seat, fists clenched and teeth grit. Fenrir simply gave the boy a very sinister looking grin, his fanged teeth gleaming with malice.

"Mr Winchester! Please take your seat" Oobleck called out tiredly, bringing Fenrir's good mood down just a tiny bit.

" _Shame, at this point I'd gladly take the chance to teach that moron another lesson in knowing his place"._

Whilst Fenrir and Blake continued to look mildly pleased with themselves, Pyrrha shook her head at the two and attempted to look reprimanding, but the attempt was ruined by the smile she wore.

"Behave you two" She muttered, to which Blake merely shrugged and Fenrir whispered a simple "Nope".

Fenrir's ears swivelled on his head as he caught Jaune sniggering to himself, no doubt happy that most of the humiliation had been taken off himself for his earlier blunder.

But like a judge's gavel, Oobleck was there immediately to remind the boy of his own errors.

"You and Mr Arc can both see me after class for additional readings"

That brought Jaune's amusement right back down to earth as the boy let out a pained groan. Fenrir looked down at the young Arc and shook his head. He felt bad for the boy, but there wasn't really a whole lot he could do for him.

" _This isn't the first time this has happened to you Jaune"_ Fenrir reflected _"I know you said you want to live up to your family's name, but at the rate you're progressing, it doesn't seem like that'll happen any time soon"._

"Now! Moving on!"

And just like that, Oobleck had bounced right back into his usual routine of zipping all across the room, and Fenrir could no longer afford to waste any brain power fretting over Jaune.

Though he did spare one final glance at Pyrrha, who as expected was looking at her leader with worry written all over her face.

Fenrir… couldn't think of anything that could help ease the girls worries.

…..

Sometime later, the final bell of the day rang out across the academy and Fenrir was finally able to relax his exhausted eyeballs. Ambling his way out of the classroom, the Alpha joined the throng of students leaving to go do whatever they did at the end of the day.

On his way out, he spied the tell-tale, long, brown ears of Velvet swiftly manoeuvring her way through the crowd, and he felt his stomach twist in on itself as he realised what he was about to try and do.

A part of himself told him not to bother, he'd burnt his bridge with the Rabbit Faunus when he'd shown his true face in the cafeteria, when he'd bared his teeth and roared in fury at everyone around him.

" _It's not over"_ The soft voice spoke firmly in his mind, silencing his doubts _"You can come back from this, but you need to act now"._

Shaking off his uncertainty, the Alpha dug deep inside himself and channelled the fires that burned away inside him, using them to fuel his courage to at least try to fix his relationship with the older girl.

" _The Grimm do not back down from anything! I am a Grimm, and I shall face this head on!"._

"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune."

From behind him, Fenrir turned and saw Pyrrha addressing Nora and Ren, who simply both nodded and carried on their way. After watching them go for a few seconds, Pyrrha eventually realised she was being watched and turned to stare directly into a pair of navy blue orbs.

The two just observed one another, Fenrir giving a slight look towards the door to professor Ooblecks classroom, and Pyrrha giving a look behind Fenrir's shoulder towards the steadily retreating second year. Then the two simply gave each other a nod before both turning towards the places they were going. That simple nod, conveyed all the two wished to say to one another, with no words needed.

" _Good luck"_

With that out of the way, Fenrir upped his pace from a slow walk to a brisk jog, his longer strides making short work of catching up to the smaller Faunus.

"Velvet!" Fenrir blurted out, before his mind could try and stop him again.

Velvet visibly froze, her shoulders shooting up to the sides of her head, before she painfully slowly, started to turn back to face the Wolf Grimm. Immediately upon eye contact, Fenrir felt the waves of uncertain apprehension come washing off of Velvet's form.

Taking a breath, Fenrir steeled himself and pressed onwards.

"Listen… Velvet, I have to tell you somethi…"

"Wait!" Before Fenrir could really get far in his apology, Velvet suddenly cut him off. Looking around the hallway, the girl suddenly walked right up to Fenrir and whispered up at him "Not here, too many people around here who don't particularly like you".

Looking around himself, Fenrir did indeed spot a few people standing around in the hallway and giving questioning glances towards the two of them. Gesturing for the larger man to follow her, Fenrir simply shrugged and trailed after the girl.

Eventually, the two of them made their way outside and towards a section of the courtyard that was very out of the way.

Velvet spun round to look Fenrir directly in the eye, something Fenrir might have found intimidating if she wasn't fidgeting uncomfortably in place.

"So… you're a Grimm" Velvet eventually opened her mouth.

"Yes"

"An Alpha Beowolf"

"Yes"

"Are there others like you?"

"No"

"And you're sure you're not just some Human with Grimm blood, or some Human-Grimm hybrid?"

That last question actually got a small chuckle out of the Beowolf over just how absurd it was.

"No, I was born a pure Grimm, this is a… recent development".

Velvet nodded to herself, before she scrunched up her nose that Fenrir couldn't help but compare to her Rabbit counterpart.

"You couldn't have been made by Ozpin though" Velvet questioned aloud, unaware of the panicked look on the Grimm's face "If you'd been made in Beacon, Ozpin would never have let you go into Vale by yourself, we shouldn't have met in that alley".

Velvet looked up at Fenrir with a scrutinising glare, noticing how sweat was starting to form on his forehead.

"Ozpin didn't make you, did he? You're not an experiment".

Fenrir floundered for a few seconds, before sighing, remembering he was a terrible liar, and simply gave a tiny grin to the chocolate-eyed girl.

"Clever" He remarked "No, I am not an experiment. I'm an accident, I don't fully understand what happened myself, but it involved a pit of Liquid Dust and a chest wound from Ruby that was filled up with rose petals".

Velvet processed this information, before letting out a quiet 'Oh'.

"That explains why you two kind of have similar hairstyles, just different colours".

Fenrir blinked in confusion, before he actually took a second to think about it and realised that himself and Ruby did kind of have a similar look going on where their hair was concerned.

His just looked a little wilder.

"So" Velvet continued, looking a bit more pensive than before "When we met in that alley…"

"I had only been like this for a few days" Fenrir finished up "That was the first time I used my Aura. I'm… still working on that".

Velvet nodded to herself, before her expression turned deadly serious, actually throwing Fenrir off a bit.

"Have you killed people?"

Fenrir frowned, he figured this question would come at some point.

"Yes" He said quietly.

Velvet looked down at the floor, her eyes a mix of emotions. Before long however, she looked back up at the quiet Alpha.

"Have you killed anyone since becoming… this?"

Fenrir shook his head "No, If I did, Ozpin wouldn't hesitate to kick me out of this school. I can't go back to my own kind looking like this, so I'm stuck here".

Silence again. Fenrir stood like an incredibly awkward statue, Velvet merely looking unsure about where to take the conversation after the heavy subject they had just discussed. Soon though, Fenrir resolved himself again, to do what he came here to do.

"Velvet… I'm sorry" Velvet looked up in surprise, Fenrir merely held his hands up as he kept speaking "I never meant for you to see me like that, in the cafeteria. Ozpin told me it would be best if I kept my true form a secret, but I… I just couldn't keep my temper under control"

Fenrir took a step forward, thankfully Velvet didn't back away and Fenrir spoke in as low a tone as he could muster, unconsciously making his voice rumble in the back of his throat.

"I was only trying to stop Cardin from attacking you" He said gently "You didn't deserve what he was doing to you"

Velvet was taken aback slightly at the pure sincerity that subtly twinkled in Fenrir's dark eyes. She was still slightly uneasy around the dark-haired, giant of a man, but seeing that look in his eyes.

She suddenly found herself a little less afraid of him.

"Well… I suppose umm" Velvet looked a little unsure and Fenrir was afraid that this had maybe all been for nought. Only for Velvet to then look back up at him with a shy smile "It was… pretty cool watching you fight those guys all by yourself, so I guess you can't be all bad".

Fenrir felt it again, that unexplainable warmth in his chest that just made him feel at ease. Then Velvet looked at him with a pleading gleam in her eyes.

"But, just promise me that from now on, no matter how angry you get, you won't kill anyone. You're better than that now".

Fenrir was uncertain if he could keep such a promise. He was born to kill, made to be a weapon of death. Still, looking at the Rabbit girl right now, the Alpha couldn't bring himself to say no.

"I… I'll do my best".

Velvet had hoped for a more solid answer, but she supposed this would have to do. Suddenly, Velvet let out a tiny chuckle that caused Fenrir to tilt his head in confusion.

"So, I guess this makes us even huh?" Fenrir just shook his head, so Velvet elaborated "I helped you out in Vale, you helped me out today".

Finally getting it, Fenrir let out a huff of air.

"Heh… I suppose it does".

The two stood in comfortable silence, any lingering tensions between the two flowing away like water down a stream, before Velvet took note of the setting sun behind the Grimm and remembered she had somewhere to be.

"Well, listen I Gotta go. I promised Coco I'd come straight to her once classes were over. She heard about what happened to me".

Fenrir grimaced "I suppose I'd better watch myself then?"

Velvet smiled sheepishly "Probably for the best".

With that, Velvet turned and started to walk away. Just before she got out of earshot however, Fenrir remembered something and called out to the girl before she left.

"Velvet!" He yelled "Please, don't tell anyone about my true origin. Ozpin said it might cause a panic, if people knew I was an accident and not controlled".

Velvet gave a slight nod and a smile.

"Sure Fenrir. I'll see you later" And with that, she was gone with a wave.

"Bye" Fenrir said quietly.

The Grimm stood in place for a moment, before giving himself a passionate fist pump and shutting his eyes in relief.

" _YES! Yes, thank Oum. That could have gone so badly"._

" _See? What did I tell you?"_ The soft voice echoed in Fenrir's mind, with pride in its tone.

Coming down from his brief euphoria, Fenrir suddenly sobered up as he remembered the promise he had just made to the Rabbit Faunus.

" _Don't kill. Hhhmmm… I do not know if that's a promise I can really keep Velvet, I do not know what the future holds for me, and killer is in my blood"._

Looking down at his clawed hands, Fenrir gradually tightened his fingers into balled fists as his face hardened in resolution.

" _Still, for your sake, I'll do my best to keep my word for as long as I can"._

Having nothing more to do here, Fenrir figured he'd gone through enough excitement for one day and started the long trek back to his storage space.

…..

 _Meanwhile_

"You two have been struggling in my class since day one!" Oobleck admonished the two remaining students sitting in front of him, one lounging back in his seat looking disinterested, the other looking like he was on the verge of putting his head in his hands and hiding from the world "Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is…"

Oobleck took a long sip from his limitless coffee mug, and then slammed it down on his desk dramatically.

"It stops now!" The professor said firmly "You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so! I expect you to act like it".

With each word from the bespectacled man, Jaune felt his shame hang on his conscience like iron weights, his face crestfallen and his head low.

" _Worked hard… Best of the best. Well I know there's one thing I'm good at, lying through my teeth to everyone around me"._

"History is important gentlemen!" Oobleck continued "If you can't learn from it… You're destined to repeat it. Pages 51 to 91! I want an essay on my desk by next class! Now! Run along."

And with an audible _whoosh_ Oobleck left his classroom, off to who knows where, and Jaune simply groaned at the idea of even more work, packed up his stuff, and left the room.

On the way out however, the poor boy was roughly shoved to the ground by the large thug behind him.

"OOHF! OW!"

"Heh" Cardin chuckled darkly, before carrying on his way like he didn't have a care in the world.

Jaune was slow to get back to his feet, a part of him debating whether or not he should just lay there, forever, and see if anyone would even notice. But then a pair of firm hands hooked themselves underneath his armpit and brought him back to a standing position.

"Ah!"

"You know, I really will break his legs" Pyrrha said, semi-seriously as she glared at the back of the brown-haired bully.

Jaune merely sighed and looked down at the floor morosely, realising once again, that Pyrrha, his partner, had once again seen him fall flat on his face and look utterly pathetic, unable to even try to defend himself.

Pyrrha looked down at the boys dour expression and felt her mood lower along with his. But then, her face brightened up as a figurative lightbulb went off in her head.

"I have an idea!" Pyrrha then switched out her grip on his arm to on his wrist, as she practically dragged Jaune through the air as she ran off to the spot she was thinking would be a perfect place to put her plan in motion "Here, come with me!"

"AAUHA!" Jaune yelled in surprise as he was lifted off his feet, unable to stop Pyrrha from dragging him off to wherever it was she was going.

…..

 _Elsewhere_

Turns out Fenrir couldn't just retreat to his room as he had wanted to, because he had detention for the next two weeks. A fact Fenrir was quickly reminded of when Glynda came striding towards him in the hallway with a face of a thousand thunderstorms.

After several hours of slow, menial labour involving polishing various cabinets filled to the brim with various trophies and awards that both Beacon academy and its Alumnus had won over the years, Fenrir slowly stumbled back to his room in the early hours of the evening, praying that he would never see those shiny pieces of metal for as long as he lived.

" _I don't know who this team STRQ are supposed to be, but could they have not been so damn good at EVERYTHING!"_

So drained from this task, Fenrir didn't even notice a group of first years glaring at him from the sides of the corridor until one of them lobbed a paper ball at his head.

Fenrir looked at the group with a disbelieving eye, but the students simply turned and walked, seething at him all the while. One of the boys stood in place for a moment longer and just continued to try and set Fenrir on fire with his mind.

"Watch yourself Monster!" The boy sneered, before turning and catching up with his companions.

Fenrir quirked an eyebrow in confusion, but then he looked down at the crumpled-up lob of paper and realised he could make out something had been drawn on it, not text but a picture.

Leaning down and picking up the ball, Fenrir unfurled the forlorn piece of paper and looked at the image in full. What he saw, caused him to feel torn between sighing in annoyance or growling in rage.

It was him… impaled on a sword and blood spurting out of the wound. Underneath, the words 'When your back is turned" were scrawled in black ink. The picture would have been disturbing to most people, and admittedly the level of detail on this drawing did unnerve the Alpha a little.

" _Oum, that's a lot of blood"._

But Fenrir simply and calmly tore the piece of paper into little pieces and carried on his way. Still, that image did bring an issue Fenrir had been thinking over back up to the surface. The sword, it reminded him of his fight with team CRDL earlier that day.

" _If even one of them had had their weapons, that fight would not have gone in my favour, no question about that. There's a target on my head, it's only a matter of time before one of these Humans grows too bold and tries to attack me in the open. And if they have a weapon… It'll be the end of me"._

Fenrir pinched the bridge of his nose, his mind full of indecisions to the point where he had to stop and lean against a pillar outside the library, just to recollect himself. As he stood in that empty corridor, his mind brought up an indisputable fact, a fact he had been trying to ignore for some time now, but by this point it was foolish of himself to keep denying the obvious.

" _As I am, I will never be strong enough to fight these students, should the incident ever occur. I need to get stronger… I need a weapon. But what?"_

Fenrir knew he did not posses the skill necessary to wield something like a sword or axe competently. Jaune was probably better than him in that department. And a gun required aiming and precision, something Fenrir was unsure he even had in this Human body.

" _And then there's the matter of my Aura"._

Try as hard as he might, the Grimm could not figure out just how to utilise this 'Power of the soul' in anyway that didn't attack his own body. Any texts he'd read on the subject said that when a persons Aura was unlocked, their abilities just came naturally to them, no extensive training was really required to master it, it was just something the user intrinsically knew.

Not helpful to the Beowolf.

Thinking on it further, Fenrir wasn't even sure where he could get a weapon from. In his brief time in Vale, Fenrir hadn't come across any shop that looked like it sold weapons, so even finding a weapon looked like it would be a problem.

" _What am I going to do?"_

"Aaaawwwuuuhhhhaaaaa… I am done with schoolwork for today. No more please!"

A squeaky yawn snapped Fenrir out of his reverie and he turned towards the source of the commotion had been Ruby stepping out of the library, looking utterly exhausted. It didn't take long, even in her tired state, for Ruby to notice that she was being noticed, and she quickly spotted the Grimm, brooding up against a pillar and looking as annoyed as usual.

"Oh, Hi Fenrir. What're you doing here?" Ruby greeted cheerily.

Fenrir for his part, was too caught up in his thoughts to give Ruby any kind of answer, and so he jus turned to look out the nearby window, the moon beginning its slow ascent into the dark blue heavens.

"Fenrir? You okay?"

The Grimm shook himself out of his depressing thoughts and stood himself upright, off the pillar.

"I'm fine" He said bluntly "What are you doing down here this late?"

Ruby furrowed her brows at Fenrir's sidestepping of her question, but she figured it best to just answer the moody grump.

"Weiss wouldn't let me into my own dorm room until I finished this essay for Professor Peach. Unbelievable right?"

Fenrir gave an incredulous look toward the smaller girl, but when he saw she was telling the truth, he shook his head and crossed his arms.

"That… does sound like something she would do"

Fenrir had been on the receiving end of this kind of forced education from the chilly heiress once already… Never again.

"Anyway" Ruby continued, stretching her arms above her head "I'm done now so I'm gonna head back, you wanna walk with me?"

"Sure" Fenrir replied, figuring it a better idea than just standing around in a dark corridor, doing nothing.

With that, the small Huntress and the gigantic Grimmborn, walked off towards the student dorms together. Ruby engaged in conversation with Fenrir, telling him about random topics or events that just popped into her head, whilst the Alpha was simply content to listen, interjecting with comments or answers whenever he felt like he had something to add.

He'd found that that was a position he had quite snugly fit into amongst the group of Humans he disliked the least in Beacon: The listener.

As they were walking along however, Fenrir's mind kept pestering him about his weapon problem. It just wouldn't go away, but then Fenrir caught sight of the folded-up Sniper/Scythe resting on the back of Ruby's hip. That weapon was lethal, and that wasn't just the Beowolf's bias talking, he'd seen what Ruby could do with it in the sparring ring.

" _Maybe… Perhaps Ruby might be able to help me out with my problem here"._

"Ruby?" Fenrir asked when their was a gap in the conversation.

"Hmm?" Ruby turned to look at the Grimm with an inquisitive smile.

"Where… would I have to go, to get a weapon?"

Ruby stopped dead in her tracks, hitting Fenrir with a blank look. Fenrir looked back at Ruby, wondering what on earth she was doing, before she let out a loud guffaw of laughter.

"You don't buy your weapon" She explained "Not if your aiming to become a Huntsman or Huntress. Every student here built their weapon themselves, well except for Jaune, but he inherited his from his grandfather. He didn't just go down to the store and pay for it, that's cheating".

Fenrir felt his prospects of getting a weapon of his own evaporate into nothingness at the silver-eyed girls words. The one thing he knew even less than using a weapon, was how to build one.

" _I've never built anything in my life. That's a Human thing, not a Grimm thing!"_

"You build your own weapons?" He asked weakly.

"Yep" Ruby responded peppily "I even made my sweetheart Crescent Rose all by myself"

At this, Ruby took her signature weapon off her hip and hit the switch to rapidly unfold the thing into its massive Scythe form. Fenrir stared up in awe of the giant, curved blade. He hadn't seen Ruby's weapon up close before, not since… the incident.

"You made that?" Fenrir asked in genuine amazement.

Ruby felt herself grin in pride as the Beowolf looked at her weapon with a wonderous sparkle in his eye.

"Yep, my own personal combat Scythe".

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle"

Ruby's eyes widened at Fenrir's sudden, rapid response, and Fenrir gripped at his skull as if he'd got a sudden headache.

" _Dammit, not again!"_

"Uh… yeah, it is" Ruby eventually stuttered out awkwardly

"Sorry" Fenrir muttered in slight embarrassment "That… happens sometimes".

" _What does he mean by that?"_ Ruby wondered to herself.

"So…" Fenrir got out, before Ruby could attempt to ask him more about his sudden outburst "Where did you build that… thing?".

"hey!" Ruby scolded "Her name is Crescent Rose, remember that please. And I built her at Signal, the combat school I was at before coming to Beacon".

"You built it… her at a school?" Fenrir was a bit confused by the desire by Ruby for him to refer to an inanimate piece of metal as a 'her', but at the stern glare from the smaller girl, he figured it would be for the best if he just went along with it.

"Yeah, all the combat schools and Huntsmen academies on Remnant have their own forges and workshops for students to make their own weapons and armour, even Beacon has one".

"Huh" Fenrir nodded in intrigue as Ruby folded her weapon back up into its compact form and reattached it to her hip.

"Do you know where the forge is here?" He inquired.

"Oh yeah sure I can show you where…" Ruby responded, and then slowly came to a halt. Fenrir wondered if Ruby was okay, before the girl came surging back to life and zoomed right up to the Grimm's face.

"Fenrir!" She yelled, suddenly full to the brim with excitement "Do you want to build a weapon?"

"Uh...geh...huh...ummm" Fenrir babbled, completely thrown off by the small red-heads sudden enthusiasm "I was thinking about it, but I don't know how to build a…"

"I could help you!" Ruby cut him off again, looking more and more like a hyperactive child "I know lots about weapons, I'm kind of a nut when it come to this stuff, I could show you how it all works and help you decide what would be a good choice".

Fenrir was overwhelmed, he really hadn't been considering recruiting Ruby's aid with making a weapon, he'd been planning to just go to the forge and see if anything would strike his fancy. Now though, seeing Ruby practically glowing with eagerness to help him, it caused to Fenrir to start to feel excited himself.

" _If Ruby really built that giant Scythe herself, then having her help me could be a huge advantage towards making my own weapon"._

"Sure!" Fenrir exclaimed "I'd be happy to have the help".

Ruby started hopping up and down in barely contained enthusiasm, and then she leapt up into the air in a miniature explosion of Rose petals.

"YES!" She yelled suddenly zooming all over the place like a ball of pure, uncontained energy "Oh this is gonna be incredible, we'll build you such a cool-looking weapon, no-one will want to fight you. Ooh, what do you think it should be, a big axe? A hammer? Maybe a sword, no two swords… No THREE SWORDS! Oh and of course they have to have a gun, a cannon, or maybe a grenade launcher".

Fenrir's eyes started to spiral as he struggled to keep up with Ruby's sudden burst of energy.

"Uhhh Ruby? Weren't you tired just a second ago?"

"Sleep can wait!" Ruby spoke loudly, suddenly right back in Fenrir's face and tightly gripping his hands "We've gotta show you the forge right now! Get your weapon started right away, come on!"

And before the poor Wolf Demon could even try to protest, Ruby was darting through the corridors… dragging Fenrir, a man who was a full head and shoulders taller than her, and taking his feet out from under him in a flurry of petals.

"WAAIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Fenrir wailed out as he was sent flying through Beacon Academy, one thought on his mind as he watched the scenery go flying by.

" _What have I just gotten myself into?"_

… _.._

"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not… THAT depressed".

When Jaune had finally been able to get his feet back under him, Pyrrha had led him up to one of the more open rooftops of Beacon academy, the central tower where the headmasters office was located directly in front of them.

As of yet, Jaune did not know exactly why his partner had brought him up here, but after looking down at the long drop beneath his feet at the edge of the roof, the scraggly teens mind had kind of just jumped to the worst-case scenario on impulse.

"I can always be a farmer or something…" He muttered off to the side.

"N-no!" Pyrrha yelled, frantically pushing jaune away from the roofs edge to assuage his out-of-nowhere notion "That's not why I brought you up here!"

Pyrrha took a moment to steady her breathing, and then when she was sure she had calmed down, she told Jaune about her plan.

"Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class" She spoke plainly "And that you're still not the strongest of fighters so… I want to help you!"

Pyrrha finished up this statement with one of her winning smiles that she had perfected from years of fighting in and winning combat tournaments.

"W-what?" Jaune had a face of disbelief as he struggled to process what Pyrrha was saying.

Pyrrha's smile faltered a bit, but then she quickly brought it back as she gestured to the open space around them.

"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"

"You think I need help?" Jaune asked, his tone slowly changing to a more accusatory one instead of disbelief.

"N-no! No, that's not what I meant" Pyrrha faltered again, realising that Jaune did not appear to be as on board with this as she had hoped.

"But you just said it" Jaune responded.

"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time" Pyrrha reasoned "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon, that speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"

There it was again, that assurance from other people that he had earned his place here, that he was already a capable fighter. But the more Jaune heard those words, from the people he liked to think were his friends, the more the lie just sounded more weaselly in his mind.

" _I can't keep doing this"_ He thought to himself _"Not to them… Not to her"_

"You're wrong" He whispered, his head low "I-I don't belong here"

"That's a terrible thing to say" Pyrrha admonished "Of course you do!"

"No, I don't!" Jaune retorted a little louder this time.

Pyrrha just stared at the Blonde sadly, wondering why he was being so adamant on not belonging here.

Unfortunately, she got her answer not long after.

"I wasn't really accepted into Beacon" Jaune finally forced out.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, unsure as to wherever or not she heard Jaune right.

"I mean, I didn't go to combat school! I didn't pass any tests!" Jaune listed off what he meant, growing more and more frustrated with every word "I didn't earn my spot at this academy! I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied."

Pyrrha was in complete shock, this had not at all been what she was expecting when she came up to the roof just now.

"What? But, why?" she asked breathlessly.

"Cause, this is what I've always wanted to be!" Jaune exclaimed, gesturing to the academy behind him "My Father, my Grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one too."

Jaune's brain started to traipse through some dark memories, of the first time he'd tried fighting with a weapon and failing miserably, of all the times his sisters just utterly trounced him at everything. To the time when his own father had told him that he just simply didn't have that 'Fighters instinct' within him and said that maybe a fighter just wasn't what he was supposed to be.

"I was just never good enough".

"Then let me help you!" Pyrrha exclaimed, trying to see if she could salvage this conversation into something more positive.

But Jaune wasn't having any of it as he shoved Pyrrha's offered hand away.

"I don't want help!" he yelled "I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"

"Jaune! I- "

"I am tired" Jaune cut her off "Of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Even Fenrir, the Grimm, the LITERAL WALKING MONSTER is already doing a better job at being a warrior than me, don't you understand!? If I can't do this on my own… Then what good am I?"

Pyrrha made to move towards Jaune and at least attempt to comfort the Blonde, but Jaune simply backed away from her and turned his back to her.

"Just, leave me alone. Okay?"

"If that's what you think is best" Pyrrha eventually responded sadly, before slowly walking towards the door that led back to the inside of the building and disappearing from sight.

Immediately upon her departure, Jaune felt the bitter sting of regret make its home in his conscience. He hadn't meant to come across so aggressive to her, but he had just gotten too caught up in his hectic emotions.

" _I have to do this by myself. If I can't even do that, then I'll just end up being even more of a burden on my friends"._

Jaune started to make his way off the roof himself, when all of a sudden, snide laughter cut through the silence of the night like a hot knife and Jaune felt his blood instantly freeze to ice as he recognised that voice.

"Oh, Jaune…"

" _No. No no please not him, anyone but him!"_

Jaune turned his head back towards the roofs edge, hoping against hope he was imagining things.

Sadly, this was not the case.

"Cardin?!"

Indeed, there Jaune's tormentor stood, looking far too pleased with himself to mean anything good was about to come out of this conversation.

"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room" Cardin spoke cockily "So, you snuck into Beacon huh? I've got to say Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel".

Jaune felt cold terror grip his heart as he realised that his biggest secret had just been heard by one of the last people he wanted to hear it.

"Please! Cardin, please, don't tell anyone!"

"Jaune! Come on!" Cardin spoke in a mock hurtful tone, as if he was offended by what Jaune was implying "I'd never rat out a friend like that!"

"Uh, a friend?" Jaune asked dumbfoundedly.

Suddenly, Cardin grabbed jaune in a headlock, squeezing on the smaller boys throat.

"Of course! We're friends now, Jauney boy" Cardin said far too sinisterly to be considered genuine "And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time".

Cardin finally let go of Jaune's head and the Blond fell to the floor, gasping for air and massaging his throat.

"That being said…" Cardin continued looking condescendingly down at Jaune "I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?"

Cardin roughly tousled the smaller boys hair. Jaune remained silent, he knew the position he was in and he knew there was no point in trying to worm his way out of it. He'd been caught, and now he had to suffer the consequences.

"That's what I thought" Cardin sneered as he walked away and made to start climbing back down to his window "Don't worry jaune; Your secrets safe with me".

And with that, Cardin's head disappeared beneath the roofs edge, and Jaune was left with nothing but a cold sense of dread nestling in his gut as he knew that he had just been blackmailed into being Cardin's lackey.

Staring up at the moon, Jaune only had one thought on his mind.

" _What have I just gotten myself into"._

 **A/N: And there we go, Jaundice is done and Fenrir's finally getting his own weapon. Most of you guys and gals have made your predictions on what you think Fenrir's weapon might be, but now that we are finally here, I'm eager to see if your opinions have changed in anyway.**

 **Leave your reviews as always and I will see you in the next chapter, which I might actually be able to get out before the end of this month.**


	22. Chapter 22: Forging your steel

**A/N: Hey so by the time this chapter comes out my Birthday will have officially come and gone. 21 Years old, still feel like I didn't really age past 12, in that I'm still awkward and sweaty.**

 **Regardless here is another chapter, enjoy.**

Fenrir was greeted with a blast of hot air the second he stepped into 'The Forge', that was so intense he had to take a step back and adjust to the sudden, dramatic shift in temperature. After recovering, Fenrir stepped fully inside the massive room. The walls were a dull grey and the air smelt of molten metal and various types of Dust.

All around Fenrir, dozens of Kilns, Anvils, smelters and whetstone wheels were placed all around the room. Because of the time of day, the place was empty save for Fenrir and his enthusiastic guide. High up on the walls, various types of weapons ranging from swords, axes, maces, staffs and hammers to pistols, rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers were hung up on display.

"Welcome to the Forge Fenrir" Ruby exclaimed proudly, beaming as Fenrir's head moved on a swivel as he looked round the whole room.

The Grimm was truly in awe. All this time, the Grimm had never known where Humans got their weapons from, seeing it now, in person, Fenrir could feel a palpable atmosphere in the room that sent tremors down his spine.

This was where power was made.

Ruby dashed to a nearby workbench, frantically grabbing a pencil and a large piece of Blueprint paper.

"Okie-dokie," Ruby called out excitedly, dashing straight back to her larger companion. "So, you got any idea what you want?"

Being brought back to reality, Fenrir frowned as he remembered he didn't really know what he wanted. He was truly out of his element here.

"I don't know" He told Ruby, whose excited form diminished somewhat. "The Grimm… are bodies are our weapons, its all I've ever needed in the past".

Ruby nodded slowly to herself, before gesturing with her head back to the workbench, indicating for Fenrir to follow her.

"That's okay" Ruby assured the Alpha "We'll just have to start from square one. No problem, we got this."

By this point, it seemed to the Wolf Demon that Ruby was trying to assure herself, more than the person she was trying to help. Still, seeing such high levels of almost visible, excitable energy coursing throughout the silver-eyed girls body, her eyes darting across the paper as she already started drawing up designs, the Beowolf couldn't help but feel that wobble on his lips again as he watched Ruby work.

" _She wasn't kidding… she's really into this stuff"_ He thought to himself.

"Now!" Ruby called out, her head constantly darting back from Fenrir, to the paper, then back to Fenrir again, "In your case, we definitely want a weapon that allows you to use that monster strength of yours. Mmmmm… how about something like a battle-axe, or a Warhammer, something you can really put your back into!"

Ruby made a bunch of movements, miming out each weapon as she called it out. Fenrir thought about the idea of a large weapon as he stared down at the crude drawings.

"That could work…" He mused aloud, before frowning lightly. "…But something that heavy, it would slow me down. And besides, I doubt I'd have the skill needed to wield an… axe competently, it would take me too long to learn how".

Ruby pouted as she realised Fenrir had a point, in all of the Beowolf's matches in the sparring ring, there was one aspect she always picked up on.

He was just too slow. A heavy-duty weapon would only slow him down even more.

"In that case" She said after a second of silence "Why don't we give you something that's still plenty powerful, but small and close to your body. Ooo, why not Gauntlets like Yang, you and her kind of have a similar thing going on with using your fists".

Fenrir seemed to think about it for a moment, and then he started to nod in agreement. Ruby almost started jumping for joy, before the Grimm's face morphed back into its default frown.

"I don't want to be just a cheap imitation of Yang though" He said, looking off to the side "I… I want something unique… something that is an… an."

"An extension of yourself" Ruby finished off, seeing Fenrir struggle to find the words.

The Wolf Faunus made a noise of agreement before staring back down at his hands. The Gauntlets idea did sound promising to him, but he wanted something else, something that would give him more of an edge.

Looking towards his gloved palms, Fenrir's eyes traced each of his fingers, and then moved up to his clawed fingernails.

"Wait" He whispered softly, his eyes widening slightly.

Fenrir counted each sharpened point, tracing the shape of his nails with his other hand.

" _1…2…3…4"_

Then, he closed his hand up into a fist, and counted his knuckles, and imagined claws, or rather _blades_ coming out of each knuckle.

"What if I had blades that could come out of the gauntlets?" Fenrir asked aloud, looking towards Ruby to see what she'd think.

Ruby just smiled as she recognised a small glint in Fenrir's eyes. According to her uncle, it was the same look she'd had when she had finally decided on what Crescent Rose was going to be.

"You mean, coming out of the top of your fists, like this?"

Ruby trailed her smaller fingers up the back of Fenrir's hand, using her fingers to show where the proposed blades would come out of.

"Yeah, they could be retracted back into my forearms. It means I could switch between my fists and the blades"

"Hmmm" Ruby pretended to think on it for a second, before looking up at Fenrir with a thousand-watt smile. "I think that would look pretty cool. You could go all out with your strength, and cut up your enemies Aura to ribbons at the same time. Sounds deadly… I LOVE IT!"

Zipping back to the workbench, Ruby got right back to work, sketching out a more detailed sketch of Fenrir's new weapon. Now fully invested, Fenrir looked over the top of Ruby's head to stare down at her work. Then, in no time at all, Ruby was finished and stepped to the side to allow Fenrir a better look at her work.

"Well, watcha think?" She asked proudly.

Fenrir nodded, impressed by what he was seeing. The Gauntlets were big and bulky in shape, going all the way up to his elbows. One sketch showed the inside of the gauntlets, the four long, thin blades sheathed inside the forearm, the other sketch showed the blades bursting out just above his knuckles.

In the Grimm's opinion, they looked fierce. But something was missing. Looking towards the small red-head, Fenrir made a grabbing motion with his hand and looked towards the pencil grasped in her hand.

"May I add something?" He asked quietly.

Without hesitating, Ruby gave the pencil to Fenrir who started adding some extra details to the top of the gauntlets. His skill with a drawing utensil was still limited, his style still a bit heavy-handed and jagged, but he was able to at least draw something recognisable now that he'd had a few handwriting lessons from Weiss.

Not long after, Fenrir put the pencil down and nodded in quiet pride before shuffling the paper towards Ruby.

"How's this look?"

Ruby had to really fight the urge to squeal in excitement as she saw what the Grimm had done. At the top of the gauntlets, Fenrir had added two points in the shape of ears, and near the middle of the Forearm bracers, a bunch of zig-zags in the shape of teeth. To complete the look, Fenrir used a red highlighter to make two red circles in the shape of eyes.

The top half of the gauntlets had been designed to look like a Beowolf mask.

"Oh yeah, that looks good" Ruby said slyly, before growing a tad more concerned for the Beowolf's choice in artwork. "But, won't making your weapons look like… that, make people more afraid of you?"

Fenrir huffed before looking down at the crude drawing.

"I refuse to be ashamed of what I am," He spoke firmly "These humans can try as much as they want to make me hate myself, I will wear what I am with pride, no matter what!"

Ruby felt a small swell of admiration as she heard Fenrir speak with solid conviction in his voice. Sometimes, it was like Fenrir's voice would transform from its normally gravelly, shredded tone that made it sound like just speaking was physically painful to him, to a smoother, darker timbre that almost reverberated in the room.

"Okay then" Ruby responded, back to her usual energy as she grabbed the piece of paper and started trotting over to a supply rack, stuffed to the gills with raw materials "Lets get started, if we're quick, we can get this done by weeks end, then you can show it off to everyone on Saturday!".

"Get what done Miss Rose?" A quiet voice asked.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"GAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Both Fenrir and Ruby shot up into the air, Fenrir nearly crashing into the smaller girl, before spinning round and scowling disdainfully at who he already knew to be the source of the sudden third voice.

"Will you… stop… doing… THAT!" He shouted at Professor Ozpin, who just continued to smile calmly at the flustered pair.

"I assure you Mr Lupus, I have no idea what you're talking about".

Fenrir's face shifted and morphed through a bunch of different expressions, ranging from looking like he wanted to burst into tears, to exploding in a ball of fire, to just wanting to slam his head into a wall.

Directing his attention away from the Alpha's nervous breakdown, Ozpin strode over to the younger Huntress and offered an open hand towards the girl.

"May I see it?" He said calmly.

Ruby looked uncomfortable for a second, realising that she had just been helping a known Grimm craft a weapon for himself, before figuring that Ozpin wouldn't be that reprimanding of her choice to help someone she was supposed to be helping anyway, and handed over the rough draft of Fenrir's proposed weapons.

Ozpin looked down at the large piece of paper and hummed quietly to himself, his eyes hidden behind the reflection in his glasses. Looking towards the Grimm, Ozpin held the piece of paper up in front of himself.

"These are for you, I take it?" Ozpin asked innocently.

Getting over his conflicting emotions, Fenrir looked towards Ozpin, folded his arms and regarded the older man coolly.

"Yes" He said simply "I want to get better at fighting in this body, to do that I'll need weapons."

"A fair point," Ozpin nodded in agreement "And these gauntlets definitely would suit your current fighting style. Brute force combined with the cutting power of these blades would make quite a deadly combination."

Suddenly, Ozpin's expression became deadly serious as he continued to stare at the Wolf Faunus.

"However" He spoke quietly "I hope you remember our talk from earlier today Mr Lupus, and that if you make these weapons, you will only use them in the sparring ring, or if you are in a dire situation."

Fenrir winced slightly, before returning back to his neutral frown.

"Yes… I remember."

"Good" Ozpin said, back to smiling slightly at the pair "In that case, your choice of crafting a weapon has come at quite the opportune time. A group of huntsmen recently made a discovery in a nearby mountain range that I think will interest the two of you greatly. Follow me."

Without even waiting to see if the two students would follow him, Ozpin walked off towards the back of the forge, cane clacking rhythmically against the metal floor. Fenrir and Ruby gave each other a stupefied glance, before Ruby simply shrugged her shoulders and jogged after the Headmaster, causing Fenrir to groan and trail reluctantly after the pair.

Once the two students had caught up with him, Ozpin stood next to an object that came up to his hips and was covered by a dirty grey cloth. Fenrir's ears could pick out the faint sound of something… bubbling underneath the cloth.

"These Huntsmen were chasing a group of Grimm through a cave system, when they happened upon a vein of metal ore deep within the mountain. Not long after, they brought the ore here to be tested and examined. The results so far have been… interesting to say the least."

Ruby scrunched up her nose in confusion.

"Wait, why would Huntsmen bother with digging up metal chunks of rock. Don't we have miners for that?"

"We do," Ozpin explained "But the leader of this group deemed it pertinent that this metal was brought straight to us when his partner accidently hit the vein with his weapon… and the weapon shattered upon impact".

Both the Human and the Grimmborn looked upon the cloth covered object with renewed interest at that statement.

"Here's what we know about it so far," Ozpin remarked as he finally removed the drab cloth from the vat, revealing the bubbling, dark grey liquid churning underneath. Fenrir could see small red lines running throughout the vat.

" _Burn dust… it's keeping it hot and liquid-like"_

"The melting point of this new metal is 4'552 degrees Celsius, higher than Tungsten," Ozpin continued as the two young students circled the boiling vat with fascination "Once it's cooled, it instantly hardens and retains its shape permanently. It's twenty times denser than Iron, and ten times sharper than steel."

As he talked, the grey-haired man walked over to a nearby shelf and grabbed a brick sized piece of metal. Fenrir watched curiously as Ozpin visibly struggled to lift the small chunk of shining, silver metal.

"For a time, there were talks among the professors and myself about implementing this new element into the students weapons. Unfortunately, two factors prevent this idea from coming to fruition," Ozpin strained as he walked back towards Ruby and Fenrir, the Grimm fighting the sudden urge to rush over and give the poor man a break as he clearly struggled to lift the small ingot.

"The first was the metals rarity. That vat beside you is basically all the metal we could find in that vein. I contacted the other academies around Remnant, they'd never even heard of this new metal until I mentioned it. This leads us to believe that this metal is so scarce it's practically non-existent. The other factor is… well, see for yourself."

With that, Ozpin chucked the small hunk of metal up into the air towards Ruby. The girl moved to catch the small slab, and then fell straight to the floor as she instantly buckled under the weight.

"OOOOFFF… What the heck!"

"Like I said, it's much denser than iron" Ozpin remarked as Ruby pried her arms free from under their sudden prison "And because of that it's much heavier, too heavy to be considered of practical use to anyone. Well, anyone Human that is."

At this Ozpin looked up and gave Fenrir a knowing look, who simply quirked an eyebrow at the older man.

"Go ahead Mr Lupus, give it a try."

Fenrir stared down at the gleaming piece of metal now lying unassumingly on the ground. He sighed, rolled his shoulders, and leaned down to pick up the small ingot. Fenrir nearly fell on his face as his initial tug did absolutely nothing, then he put a bit more oomph in his pull and this time, he was able to get the chunk of metal off the ground and lift it like a dumbbell.

" _It's heavy… but not unmanageable for me"_ Fenrir thought as he experimentally lifted the chunk up and down.

"Well Mr Lupus, what do you think?" Ozpin asked as he could already see the cogs turning in the Beowolf's mind.

Fenrir looked between the brick of metal, and the boiling vat. This metal was new, and it was strong.

"… _Perfect"_

"I'll take it. All of it." Fenrir spoke aloud, a slightly sinister gleam in his eyes.

Ruby looked about ready to cheer as she saw Fenrir get more and more into the idea of getting his own weapon. Ozpin simply nodded and walked up beside the Alpha.

"Excellent. Now unfortunately there isn't enough metal to make the gauntlets entirely out of it. But, since you want four blades in each arm, eight blades in total… yes, there should be enough to make those at least."

"That'll do" Fenrir responded.

"Splendid," Ozpin said cheerily "Well, I'll leave it to Miss Rose to help you make your new weapons. I'll also leave it up to you to give a name to this new metal, we couldn't come up with one we could all agree on. Well, I won't keep you any longer, have fun you two."

And with one last nod, Ozpin turned and walked out of the forge. With his departure, Fenrir and Ruby just silently stared at the still bubbling vat of dark grey liquid.

"Well, aren't you a lucky little Grimm," Ruby eventually broke the silence "Now then, Professor Ozpin said that this stuff turns hard the second it starts to cool down, so we should probably make the blades last in that case. In the meantime, we can make the gauntlets themselves with good old regular super steel."

Whilst Fenrir pondered on whether or not he could really be considered lucky, Ruby was already off, heading back to grab the more conventional metals.

"Shall we?" She asked sweetly, breaking Fenrir out of his musing.

"Ah, right!" Fenrir shouted, moving to meet Ruby's pace.

" _No time like the present I guess"_

And with that, the two got to work crafting the weapon that would accompany Fenrir for the rest of his life.

…

"Hey Fenrir?" Ruby asked suddenly.

"What?"

"What did you call Cardin in the cafeteria?"

The two were standing next to each other as they watched the bucket of steel slowly begin to melt inside the flaming kiln, the warmth flooding their bodies as they simply waited for the metal to turn a bright, molten yellow.

At first, Fenrir didn't know what the girl next to him was talking about, he'd called Cardin a lot of things near the end of the fight. But then Ruby elaborated, and Fenrir caught on to the girls question.

"You called him… Dusty or something."

"Dustling… I called him a Dustling. It's what we Grimm call you Humans. It's not a friendly term."

"Oh" Ruby replied quietly. The two just continued to stare in silence for a time, before Ruby spoke up again.

"Why do you call us that?"

Fenrir grumbled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, before answering the small red-head.

"The first Men, they where born from Dust. Dust is small, yet you were created from it. So we call you that as a way of saying you are even smaller and more worthless than dust itself."

Ruby fell silent at that. She'd gathered that the Grimm did not think highly of Humanity, but she had no idea they despised them _that_ much.

" _That's a lotta hate."_

"So Uhhh…" Ruby fumbled to find something to fill the now awkward silence as Fenrir just continued to stare into the fires burning away in the kiln "Do you, have anything you want to ask me?"

"No… well, yes." Fenrir remarked, remembering there was something that had been bugging him recently.

He'd originally been planning to ask Yang, but the girl next to him would suffice for now.

"You and Yang. You claim to be sisters, but from what I understand of Human names, siblings share the same last name".

Ruby nodded along as she caught on to where this conversation was going. She'd already gone through it once before with Jaune, the Blonde also noticing the name discrepancy not long after they all arrived at Beacon.

"But…" She coaxed Fenrir on.

"But, you are Ruby **Rose** , she is Yang **Xiao-Long.** Why do you have different names?" Fenrir questioned, his attention now fully on the cloak-wearing girl.

Ruby, seeing no harm in the question, answered the Grimm as clearly as possible.

"Well, technically Yang and I are Half-sisters. We have the same dad, but different mothers."

Fenrir suddenly stood stock still as his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Y… your father had TWO mates?!"

Ruby chortled loudly as she saw just how panicked Fenrir had looked when he'd asked that.

"No, not both at once!" She exclaimed.

Fenrir let out a puff of air "I was gonna say, having two mates at once… that sounds exhausting."

Fenrir visibly shuddered at the thought of having multiple mates. Ruby couldn't help but find his reaction weirdly amusing.

"You Grimm really don't date much huh?"

"Like I said in class, Grimm don't normally have children of our own, we don't have the time for it. If we do choose a partner, it is only ever one, never multiple. I suppose that's where we Beowolves differ the most from… Well normal Wolves."

Ruby listened intently as Fenrir spoke about his people. Whenever Fenrir really started to talk about his kind, he always had this glimmer of pride in his eyes. While it was a little disturbing considering the Grimm were what they were, it was nice to see that Fenrir held no shame for being what he was.

"What about you?" She asked, "You ever had a… partner?"

"No" Fenrir scoffed, "That, never interested me."

The Alpha shook his head as he realised he'd become side-tracked, and got back onto the original topic.

"So, you had different mothers?"

"Oh… yeah, Yang was born first obviously" Ruby continued, starting to feel a tad uncomfortable, considering she already knew the end to this story, and it wasn't a happy one, "Then, her mom just disappeared one day. So, two years later, my mom and my dad got together, and they had me."

Ruby suddenly grew quiet, and Fenrir saw an expression on the younger girls face that he didn't recall ever seeing on the normally childishly joyful young lady.

"And… Where is your mother now?" Fenrir asked slowly, his negative radar already starting to ping lowly in the back of his head.

"…"

Ruby said nothing, just stared at the floor. Fenrir saw regret and longing clearly reflected in Ruby's silver eyes.

And then he saw it again. Another dark, bottomless well, right at the centre of Ruby's being, the source of all the girls negative thoughts and emotions.

" _Okay, I think it's safe to say all Humans have these strange wells now. You just have to look for a while to find it."_

From just this alone, Fenrir easily pieced together the answer. Yang's mother had disappeared, Ruby's mother was just… _gone_.

"I…"

"Its okay!" Fenrir interrupted the solemn girl "You don't have to say anything."

Fenrir said no more, quickly turning back to stare into the raging fires. In his head, he berated himself harshly for taking the mood of the room, and bringing it crashing back down to the floor. He also had to ignore that strange need in his mind, the need to grab those strange, black pits, and tear them to pieces, dissect them, get rid of them. It wasn't his business, he repeatedly told himself, over and over, those Human emotions didn't matter to him, the blackness meant nothing to him.

He also had to stop his hand by balling it into a fist, to stop it from coming to rest on Ruby's shoulder.

" _NO! We are not doing that! I don't care, I don't care, I don't care, I don't…"_

So focused on repeating his mantra, Fenrir didn't notice Ruby jump back to life and dart towards the kiln with a massive pair of tongs and wearing oven mitts.

"Looks like it's ready!"

Ruby carefully brought the bucket, now full of white-hot, molten metal, round towards Fenrir for him to take a look. Looking inside, Fenrir nodded as he saw the super steel inside, was now nice and gloopy, ready to be put in the pre-set, cooling moulds that would form the metal into various different shapes, that would then be fitted around the Beowolf's arms.

"Looks good" Fenrir remarked.

"Great" Ruby grinned widely, already striding over towards the moulds "Now the fun part begins."

….

After that night, Fenrir and Ruby fell into a pattern for the next few days. After classes, and Fenrir's detention, the two would meet up in the forge and continue working on building Fenrir's weapon until well into the night.

The two were silent as they worked for the most part, but occasionally Ruby would strike up a conversation with the gruff Grimm, who only responded occasionally, and when he did, he was his usual brief, blunt self. After Ruby's unintentional reveal regarding her birth mother, Fenrir felt it wasn't his place to impose on the small red-head anymore than he already was.

That said, sometimes Ruby would ask for a tale from his younger years, when he was travelling across Remnant. As always, Fenrir would spare the grizzly details of his hunts, but he would recount some of the more memorable sights he had seen on his travels.

Such as that one time in Atlas he had seen the sky come alive with colours and patterns.

"That was… a sight I don't think I'll ever forget".

Ruby smiled as she saw the fond memory almost reflected in Fenrir's navy eyes as he talked about seeing the Northern Lights.

Though, in Fenrir's mind, he recalled how at the time, all he'd been thinking about was how that sight, reminded him of why he had to fight so viciously to protect the planet from the real monsters.

Especially when he could see the Human factories in the distance, belching out black smog that rose up to choke the sky above. He'd felt real, raw anger that day.

At one point, Ruby took Fenrir's arm measurements, observing closely how each, individual muscle in his forearms and hands, coiled and twisted around one another.

With these measurements taken, Ruby got to work on shaping the super steel to fit snugly around the Grimm's limbs.

"Now, we're going to have to give you some gloves" Ruby remarked to herself as Fenrir took a hammer and started beating away at a heated piece of metal, turning it into a semi-circle shape to go on top of his arm, "So we can weld the metal plates on top of it, instead of, you know, on your hand. And, because it'll give you some extra protection for your hands. We don't want your own blades slicing your hands off, I don't think you'd enjoy that."

Fenrir's lupine ears were angled towards her, so Ruby knew he was listening to her even as he continued to stare down at the curved metal beneath him. Fenrir pondered the idea of wearing gloves, and then he stared down at the fingerless gloves he was currently wearing.

"Why don't we use these?" He offered.

Ruby stared at the gloves on Fenrir's hands and then hummed to herself as she put her finger under her chin in the traditional 'Thinking pose'.

"Mmmmm… Yep! Those will do nicely. In fact, they've just given me an idea. Mind if I borrow them?"

Ruby held out her own hands, so Fenrir shrugged and casually took off his gloves and deposited them in her waiting palms.

"Nice! Now, you keep working on that metal, I'm gonna go see if I can find what I'm looking for."

Not even waiting to see if he'd heard her, Ruby disappeared in her trademark flurry of petals. Fenrir shut his eyes briefly, before going back to the task at hand, grumbling to himself all the while.

" _Really need to stop tensing up at those rose petals"_ He admonished himself _"I'm basically jumping at shadows, it's pathetic, especially for a Grimm."_

Whilst Fenrir was busy re-shaping the pieces of metal, Yang stealthily made her way past the occupied Grimm and went to greet her younger sister.

Fenrir knew she was there [She was no Ozpin], but Fenrir simply ignored her as he continued about his work. Ruby had told him earlier that the rest of her team knew what the two were up to, so he felt no need to address the arrival of the Blonde brawler.

His ears would twitch intermittently as he could hear the two talking to each other. About what, he couldn't tell, but again, he was busy with making his weapons, so he concentrated on that instead.

A minute or so later, Yang came bouncing past, giving the Alpha a friendly smile as she walked past him and out the Forge.

"Looking forward to seeing these gauntlets wolfy!"

Fenrir simply hummed and nodded to show he acknowledged the girl, before she disappeared from sight. Not long after, Ruby returned, holding a box of weird electrical components that the Grimm didn't have the slightest clue as to what they did.

Along with a bag stuffed to the brim with various types of cookies.

Ruby saw how Fenrir's eyes instantly zeroed in on the bag in her hand, given to her by her sister as a way to keep her energy up. She quickly brought the bag behind herself and narrowed her eyes warningly.

"No, stay back!" She spoke as if she was talking to Zwei, her voice sounding like that of a scolding mother.

Fenrir scowled and growled under his breath. Ruby felt her commanding façade falter slightly as she saw the legitimately hurt look in the Grimm's eyes. So, she rolled her eyes and relented somewhat.

"Okay… you can have one, but that's it okay?! I need these a lot more than you do"

Ruby said this because, while last night she'd barely been able to keep her eyes open near the end, Fenrir was still wide awake, and only stopped working when Ruby told him she was going to bed.

Ruby grabbed one of the larger cookies near the top, dotted with dozens of small chocolate chips, and chucked it like a frisbee at the Alpha's head. Fenrir caught it deftly, and regarded the silver-eyed girl with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks" He muttered before shoving the whole thing in his mouth and resuming his work.

Ruby walked past the Wolf Teen and hopped up on to a desk and started fiddling away with the boys gloves, munching on cookie after cookie as she worked.

"You… Really like sweets, don't you?" Fenrir eventually asked, breaking the silence himself for once.

"Mhmm" Ruby mumbled through a full mouth, before quickly swallowing her half-eaten treat and carrying on, "Dad always said I had a sweet tooth ever since I was a baby, though what most people don't know is their actually not my absolute favourite thing to snack on. No, that honour goes to…"

"Strawberries."

Fenrir looked like he was physically trying to rip his own lips off as Ruby just stared at him in stunned silence. This wasn't the first time Fenrir had spoken out of nowhere like this, and now the girl was really starting to notice it almost always happened around her.

"Why do you keep doing that?" She asked the older boy, stopping him in the middle of his meltdown "Sometimes you just say something at random like that, and it's always stuff related to me. Do you stalk me or something?"

"No!" Fenrir yelled in indignation "I just… I."

Fenrir sighed as he realised that now, he had no choice but to explain to Ruby his sudden verbal ticks. On the day when Fenrir had been released from the infirmary after the Grimm outbreak, he'd questioned Ozpin to see if the older man knew why the Grimm would sometimes have moments where he acted completely out of character.

From always having his coffee with absurd amounts of cream and sugar, to becoming ravenous whenever he saw cookies. Even down to moments where he would get the overwhelming urge to offer aid or protect someone in trouble.

The answer Ozpin had given him, shook the beast somewhat.

"When I became Human," Fenrir spoke quietly, causing Ruby to lean forward so she could hear what the Wolf Faunus was saying, "I didn't just get your Aura, according to Ozpin, I also got… your brain. I inherited some of your behaviour."

Ruby was very befuddled at that statement.

"So, what you've got my memories?"

Fenrir shook his head lightly, "No, nothing like that. I just… I know things about you that I wouldn't normally know. Like how apparently, your favourite food is strawberries."

"Oh really?" Ruby suddenly had a very shrewd expression that sent a slight shiver up Fenrir's spine, "Sooooo… what's my favourite colour?"

Fenrir shot a very flat look, looking her up and down, "Red. What are you…"

"What's the name of my pet?" Ruby yelled over the confused Grimm.

"Zwei!" Fenrir's eyes shot wide open as once again, his mouth moved without him thinking.

"What's my favourite fairy tale story?"

"You don't have one" Fenrir's eyes started to become unfocused as his unconscious mind took over his conscious body "You always loved the ones told by your mother the most, no matter which one it was."

Ruby was blown away. She'd known that it was her Aura that was responsible for giving the Beowolf his new, human form, but she didn't think he'd get her mind as well.

"Wow, that's really cool!"

"NO IT ISN'T!"

Fenrir's voice suddenly exploded with anger, causing the girl to jump back in fright as Fenrir glared scathingly at her.

"F-Fenrir?" Ruby asked weakly. It wasn't the Alpha's anger that shook her the most surprisingly, what really unnerved her was how incredibly distressed Fenrir suddenly looked, his breathing pattern erratic and his eyes darting all over the place.

"Ruby… Please, don't do that again" Fenrir rasped, immediately wanting to shove his head into the nearest kiln, hating how weak his voice had sounded at that plea, "I… I don't like when that happens."

"Wh… Why?" Ruby asked innocently, wanting to find out just why this seemingly little thing bothered the larger man so much.

"Because it is not me!" Fenrir responded tersely "They are your wants, your patterns. It's your mind… not mine. If 'that' keeps happening, I'm worried that… that I might forget who I am, just become another you."

A normal person might have scoffed at the Wolfs irrational fear. But Ruby, she could clearly see in Fenrir's eyes, that this was a very real fear to him. When Ruby had asked him those questions, Fenrir had no control over his vocal chords.

It felt as if all control had been taken from him. And he hated it.

Ruby bowed her head down, unable to look the taller boy in the eye. Fenrir let out a puff of air, before turning back to continue working on the bent piece of metal beneath him. Silence permeated the area, save for the rhythmic clanging of Fenrir's hammer bashing away at the heated steel.

Then, a few minutes later, Fenrir felt a light prodding on his shoulder. Turning to the source, the Grimm froze in place as he saw the silver-eyed reaper offering another large cookie towards him, her eyes shining with apologetic regret.

"Sorry, I didn't know that's how you felt about that." Ruby spoke with nothing but pure sincerity in her voice, though she did attempt to make a light-hearted smile all the same, "Though to be honest, even though you have my 'brain', I really don't think you're just a copy of me. You're far too wound up and grumpy, you're more like Weiss honestly."

"Pah!" Fenrir scoffed. But then, he huffed some more, and Ruby realised he was actually starting to chuckle. The Grimm side-eyed the red-haired girl, then gently took the sugary treat from Ruby's offered hand.

"Thanks." He muttered.

Ruby smiled warmly as Fenrir scarfed down the large cookie like it was nothing, then grabbed a pair of tongs to pick up the now semi-circular chunk of metal.

"I think it's ready" He observed.

"Yep" Ruby agreed "Now remember, quench it in the oil slowly, we don't want a repeat of last time where you just made metal spaghetti."

Fenrir winced as he remembered his first botched attempt at cooling the metal plates, he'd been too quick apparently.

"Right."

…

"Hey Fenrir! Come here, I got something to show you."

Fenrir looked up with a blowtorch in hand and goggles covering his eyes as he stopped working on adding some adjustments to his new elbow guards.

Another day had come and gone. Once more, the Grimm and the girl were back in the sweltering heat of the forge. Fenrir still hadn't gotten his gloves back since yesterday, and when he'd asked Ruby about their whereabouts, she'd brushed him off saying she'd show him later.

Setting the welding equipment down, Fenrir put the goggles up on the top of his head and walked towards where the Scythe-wielder had just been. Turning the corner revealed a cluttered workbench, with the skeleton of two gauntlets dead in the centre. What Fenrir was more preoccupied with however, was how apparently, his gloves had been stitched on to the main body of the gauntlets and given their own sharp pieces of black metal plates on the back and sides to act as extra armour.

If Fenrir squinted, he could see four grooves on the backplate of each glove.

" _I guess that's where the blades will travel through. Along the back of my hands and out just above my knuckles."_

"So this is what you were working on?" Fenrir asked, honestly quite impressed with the amount of effort that had no doubt been put into affixing his gloves to the rest of the gauntlets.

"Yep" Ruby exclaimed proudly "Attaching leather like that was not easy, but I pulled it off because me and weapons are like that!"

On the word 'that' Ruby crossed her pointer and middle fingers together and tried her best to look cool in front of the imposing Grimm. Fenrir just shook his head bemusedly and went back to admiring Ruby's handiwork.

"Ooh!" Ruby suddenly yelled, startling the Alpha slightly, "That's not all I've done. I also figured out a way to activate your blades in no time, look!"

Ruby leant forward and turned the glove up to reveal the palms. Four little bumps at the top and one single button at the base of his wrist had been added to the palm.

"What do those do?" Fenrir asked.

"Hehehe… Press those top four buttons and you'll find out."

Shrugging, Fenrir took his four fingers and pressed the small, grey nubs.

PSSSSHHHH!

From the main body of the gauntlet, four holders shot forward up to the wrist, a hiss of steam shrieking out as they went. Amazed, Fenrir pressed them again, and the holders retreated right back to their original position coupled with another hiss from the hydraulics.

"They respond only to your fingerprints" Ruby said, unable to hide the satisfaction that her idea had worked perfectly, "Once the blades are in place, they'll shoot out through your knuckles along those grooves in your gloves, which will also keep them locked in place. Just remember, your arms have to be completely straight when you activate them, if your wrists are bent, the blades will either go flying out and clatter to the floor… ooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrr stab you through your own palms."

Fenrir grimaced as he got a very unpleasant mental picture

"Got it."

Fenrir turned the gloves back to their original position, before remembering that there had been a fifth button.

"What was the button at the bottom of my hand for?"

"Uhhh well…" Ruby's smile suddenly grew a lot more sheepish as she rubbed the back of her head, "I know you said you didn't think a gun would suit you, but every good Huntsman worth his salt has a weapon that is also a gun."

Fenrir sighed exasperatedly. He supposed he should have seen this coming, but that didn't mean he wasn't already dreading the inevitable headache he would get from trying to figure out how to use a firearm.

"So… The gauntlets will have guns?" He asked tiredly.

"Yes" Ruby nodded, "And, I think I have the perfect ones for you, I saw them, and they instantly made me think of you."

With that, Ruby reached down underneath the table and brought up a large metal box. Undoing the clasps, Ruby opened the lid to reveal two, gleaming silver revolvers. Fenrir marvelled at the things and then tentatively, reached a hand in to grab one of the miniature cannons and examine it.

"What is this thing?" Fenrir asked as he stared down the long barrel.

"That, my fuzzy friend, is the 454 Castle revolver, one of the newest models." Ruby explained, once again showing off her vast knowledge of all things weaponry related, "From a long distance, they're not all that great. But, if you get in close, they can deal a ton of damage. Their main draw is their stopping power, a speedy fighter like me or Blake or Ren would be brought to a screeching halt if you tagged us with just one round."

Fenrir continued to admire the hefty revolver in his hand, before turning towards Ruby with something that could almost be mistaken for a grin crossing his face.

If a grin was meant to chill your blood to ice.

"You have a real talent for this" Fenrir said earnestly.

Despite Fenrir's mangled smirk, Ruby felt positively giddy at the honest praise she received from the midnight-haired teen.

"Whaaat, oh stop it, your crazy…" And Ruby just continued to babble to herself as Fenrir set the revolver carefully down on the bench.

"Where would they go?"

"Oh, I'll work on making it so that they come out of your forearms, on top of the blades when they're tucked in. The fifth button will bring them out and act as triggers at the same time. Only thing is you will have to reload and put them away manually which might slow you down a bit but… no I'm sure you'll get used to it."

Ruby shot an encouraging thumbs up towards the wolf, who just shook his head and sighed wistfully.

"Well… I'll let you handle that, then shall I?"

"Yep, you carry on working the big bits, let the master handle the small details!"

Fenrir shook his head, let out a sarcastic "Okay" and went back to his own work, already setting the goggles back over his eyes.

An hour or so later, Ruby was taking a water break, simply watching as Fenrir hammered away at what would soon become the main covers of the gauntlets forearms. Sparks flew as Fenrir mercilessly beat away at the red-hot metal. She was just waiting for Fenrir to finish up his little bits, then she'd call it a night and the two would go back to their rooms.

Unfortunately, Fenrir was more tired than even he'd realised, and his hand slipped and fell directly into the path of the descending hammer.

BANG!

There was silence for a second, both Ruby and Fenrir staring down in horror at the Grimm's steadily reddening hand. And then, Fenrir registered the pain he'd just brought upon himself.

"Ghhh… GAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir hollered in pain and started hopping around the place like a lunatic. Ruby wanted to be concerned for the Grimm really, she did, he had just badly hurt his hand. But the way he was bouncing around like a spring, yelling and roaring at varying pitches and levels, it was impossible for the young girl to not burst into a fit of laughter at the absurd sight.

That said, Ruby's laughter did diminish significantly when she realised that Fenrir's shouts and screams weren't as animalistic as she had initially thought.

In fact, she swore she could make out what sounded strangely like words.

" **AAAARRGGHHH! SEM AHRAAN KRULKUL HEL! GRRRRRRRGGGGHHH! STODVA HOKARL JOOR!"**

[TRNS: That hurt like hell. Stop laughing Human.]

Ruby didn't have the slightest clue what Fenrir was saying. To her it just sounded like grunts, growls and snarls that had just got mashed together to form something that only barely resembled words.

Fenrir however, he knew exactly what he'd said and how he'd said it. Fenrir's pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he stared down at his chest, the pain in his hand immediately forgotten about. Ruby tentatively took a step towards the Alpha, currently lost in his own world.

" _My… my voice! D-did I just...?"_

"Fenrir, you okay?"

Fenrir held a hand up, telling Ruby to stay put as he tried to sort through his racing mind. Slowly, Fenrir started to roll his jaw and stretch his mouth as wide as it could go.

Whatever he'd just done… He needed to do it again, right now.

" **ZU'U LOS AAN GRIMMR! FAAL SADR DEINMAAR OB KOPRAAN!"**

[TRNS: I am a Grimm. The true guardian of Remnant.]

Fenrir nearly knocked himself out with how rapidly he slapped his hands over his mouth. He couldn't believe it, after all these years of never having to use 'it', he figured he'd just forgotten about 'it'.

" _Incredible!"_ He marvelled, _"Looks like I was paying more attention to my parents than I thought!"_

Fenrir's parents hadn't just taught him how to survive in the wilds of Remnant, they'd also taught him something that they had been taught by Grimm far far older than themselves.

They taught him a dead language. They taught him the _Grimmspeech_.

"I can't believe I remembered it… After all this time." He whispered, his face a picture of disbelief.

"R-remembered what?" Ruby asked "What was that? It sounded like you were growling, except you were speaking at the same time."

Fenrir looked towards the silver-eyed girl, debating whether or not he should tell a Human this very sensitive information. But then, he remembered the Grimmspeech wasn't really used anymore, so telling Ruby probably wouldn't amount to much.

Certainly nothing the Humans could really use that's for sure.

"I was… speaking in the Grimmspeech" Fenrir explained slowly.

"Grimmspeech?" Ruby questioned, tilting her head to the side, "You mean like, the Grimm have their own language?"

Fenrir blew air through his mouth, taking a seat and gesturing for Ruby to take one next to him. He took a moment to gather his thoughts, figuring out how to properly explain one of his kinds biggest secrets.

"Not anymore" He eventually said, "It used to be used a lot more, centuries back. Now though, most Grimm alive do not even remember it's existence. It is… a dead tongue."

Ruby was drawn in with intrigue. So the Grimm used to have their own language. Ruby wasn't the most studious of individuals, she was quite happy to give Weiss that honour, but she had definitely never once read about the Grimm ever speaking, even in another language.

"Wait, if its dead, why do you know it?" Ruby asked, her face frowning slightly "Were you lying to everyone and you're actually like five-hundred years old or something? Because if you are, that's really creepy!"

Fenrir gave Ruby a dumbfounded expression, before shaking his head and staring flatly at the younger girl.

"No! I'm seventeen years of age!" Fenrir got out quickly, Ruby taking a sigh of relief, "I was taught the Grimmspeech by my parents. And they learned it years ago when the two of them were travelling with a herd of Goliaths."

" _Goliaths… Oh! Those are those Grimm that look like elephants. Or at least, the nightmare versions of elephants"_ Ruby thought to herself.

The Goliaths were some of the oldest and strongest Grimm still alive on Remnant. The Huntress in training figured that if the Grimm really did have their own language once upon a time, those giant elephants would be the most likely candidates to still know about it.

Though, when Fenrir again mentioned his parents, Ruby found herself becoming more intrigued with them. Fenrir was a rare case, a natural born Grimm, with a mother and a father. She was curious, what was a Grimm's upbringing like.

Fenrir had only ever mentioned them briefly, and then he'd very quickly move on to something else.

" _Well, I suppose there's no harm in asking. It is just the two of us in here, I should try being a bit bold."_

"Soooo…" Ruby started slowly, trying to ease her way into the new conversation topic, "Your parents taught you?"

"Yes" Fenrir stated lowly, already seeing where this talk was going, "They taught me as much as they could for a whole year. From when I was a pup, to when I was fully grown, they made sure I was ready to survive the world."

A moment of silence.

"What were they like?" Ruby practically whispered, "What was… having Grimm parents like?"

Fenrir kept silent for the longest time, to the point where Ruby feared she'd gone to far with her probing questions and was about to apologise to the boy and ask him to forget she said anything. But then, he opened his mouth, a curiously thoughtful look on his pale face.

"They were stern, strict, always making sure I was putting everything into whatever I was doing," Fenrir grumbled, his voice once again hitting that low range that Ruby could almost feel in her ribs, "It… wasn't what you Humans would call loving. But, they weren't abusive either, they just had to make sure I was ready to do what all Grimm have to do. To them… I was a job. Something they **had** to do, for the good of the Grimm race."

Ruby looked down at the floor, her mind unsure of how to feel about Fenrir's parents. It didn't sound like they loved him at all. Just a job, that's what Fenrir had said, not something they wanted to do, but something they needed to do. Looking back up at the Alpha, Ruby caught an oddly distant look in Fenrir's dark blue eyes.

"Did… did you ever see them again?" Ruby asked.

"Sometimes" Fenrir nodded "Though it was only ever briefly, and it wasn't like a reunion. We only ever met by chance, and then we'd move on to wherever we were going. Honestly, I don't even know if they're still alive."

After finishing his explanation, Fenrir turned to look down at his conversation partner, and found her looking incredibly morose. Fenrir knew Humans placed a lot more value in familial bonds than the Grimm did, so the way he talked about the people who raised him, it probably unnerved the red-head somewhat.

"Ummm… I know it sounds cold of them" Fenrir tried to sound assuring, "But honestly, that's just how all Grimm are with their children, if they have them. We're not like Humans, we put our mission first, nothing else really matters. I don't hold it against them in any way, its because of them I'm still alive today."

That made Ruby feel a little better. The emotional disconnect between Fenrir and his parents still left her feeling a bit shaken, but if Fenrir really seemed okay with it, then she guessed there was no point in making an issue about it.

Still…

"Do you want to see them again, if they are still alive?" Ruby decided to try and get one last question in.

The response was a sudden, sharp intake of air from the dark-haired Faunus. It was a question he hadn't been expecting, and thinking about it made him feel severely hollow on the inside.

"I… No… Not like this." He eventually said, staring down once again at those annoyingly thin and weak looking Human hands of his.

If his parents saw him as this, Fenrir knew. They wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

That thought alone, left the Alpha feeling like his stomach had just been torn out.

Ruby wanted to yell at herself, seeing how her question had visibly brought the Grimm's mood way down. And this time, she didn't have any cookies to take Fenrir's mind off his thoughts.

So she decided to backtrack some, and go back to that whole ancient Grimm language thing.

"Um, what would my name sound like in that Grimmspeech" Ruby blurted out, desperate to take Fenrir's mind off of his parents.

The Beowolf looked back up at the Human girl, her eyes shining with genuine curiosity as well as silent desperation. Fenrir started rattling around inside his brain, seeing just how much he did remember about his kinds ancient tongue.

" _Lets see… Ruby Rose… Ruby is a gemstone… Rose is a flower… So that would beeeeeeeeee."_

"Your name would become… **RAUDRGOLZ MYRKRPEYT.** "

Ruby eyes widened at the mouthful her ears had just been assaulted by, along with how Fenrir's voice dramatically switched pitches as he spoke in the language of the Grimm.

Fenrir patiently awaited her reaction.

"That… sounded… AWESOME!" Ruby jumped up and bounced on the balls of her feet, beaming like a star at the amused Grimm.

"Ooh, what about the others, what do their names turn into?"

Ruby's energy was slowly becoming infectious to the Grimm. The longer he spent around her, the more he felt his own blood start to surge with energy, and he suddenly felt all too willing to share more of his culture with the young human.

The low warmth bubbled comfortably in Fenrir's core.

The two didn't get much work done after that, as instead, Fenrir went through a bunch of different words, phrases and sentences in his native tongue, steadily reacquainting himself with a piece of his own heritage, as Ruby listened intently, throwing out some suggestions of her own.

It was, in Fenrir's honest opinion, an all-together rather nice way to spend an evening.

…..

Fenrir was concerned.

Not for his weapon, that was nearly complete, the main body of the gauntlets had now been full built, complete with all the necessary straps and fittings to help keep the things firmly secured to his body.

All that was left now was to give the gauntlets their blades, the blades that would be made with that secret, super metal that Ozpin had shown them a few days ago. A metal that Ruby had already went ahead and named without the Grimm's knowledge, but the Grimm agreed with it anyway simply to save himself any unnecessary headaches.

" _Svartalfarmium. Not a bad name I suppose, but it just sounds like gibberish to me."_

No, Fenrir was concerned about Jaune. Recently Fenrir hadn't seen him around all that much, and when he had seen him, the lanky Blonde always seemed to be in a hurry, frantically making excuses for why he couldn't stick around, and then darting off without another word.

Still, Fenrir had been able to quickly scan Jaune's emotions and what he'd sensed, that was where Fenrir's concern stemmed from.

" _His emotional state, it's gotten worse since the last time I saw him. His mind clouded with negativity, he feels… trapped. By what, I have no idea."_

Fenrir stared blankly ahead of himself, barely paying attention to the vat of bubbling, dark grey liquid in front of him.

" _I know I shouldn't be this bothered by some Humans problems"_ Fenrir chastised himself _"But still, I am, and it frustrates me to no end. Why do I feel this… concerned for Jaune's wellbeing?"_

" _Because he's your friend,"_ That soft voice called out once again like a swan song in the Grimm's mind, _"You want to help him get out of the state he's in. You care."_

Fenrir's scowl intensified as that mystery voice started picking apart at his brain. Evidently his change of expression was noticeable as Ruby waved a small hand in front of his unfocused eyes.

"Hey Fenrir, you okay?" Ruby asked with concern.

Fenrir shook himself out of his own musings, turning to face his work partner with a more determined glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine Ruby. Let's get this done!"

With his point made, Fenrir walked up to stand behind the vat, furiously ridding himself of his previous thoughts as he braced up against the container.

Jaune would have to wait, right now he had a vat of liquid metal to move.

"Um, okay" Ruby said unsurely "I already got the kiln set up to the highest temperature possible, and the moulds are in place. But, are you sure you don't wanna talk about… Okay! Never mind we're moving now I guess."

Ruby couldn't stop the little bite of exasperation escaping from her lips as Fenrir blatantly ignored her and already started pushing the container towards the centre kiln. The canister was far far heavier than the Beowolf had been expecting, even with wheels, so he had to put his entire back into carting the thing across the room.

In no time at all, the pair arrived at the massive furnace, roaring white-hot flames blazing away inside, with a feeder tube ready to take up the liquid Svartalfarmium and deposit it straight into the eight, blade shaped moulds.

"Careful" Ruby warned, watching to make sure the vat was lined up perfectly with the tube, "We only get one shot at this."

"I've got it" Fenrir grunted, making the slight adjustments whenever Ruby instructed him. Finally, at a painstakingly slow pace, Fenrir lined up the vats outtake valve with the kilns feeder tube. With a burst of petals, Ruby quickly locked the two connecting points together and flipped a switch that caused the tube to instantly start sucking up the dull grey liquid.

Fenrir watched in mild fascination as the metal travelled up through the clear tube and straight into the eight waiting moulds. But then he had to reel back a bit as a droplet of sweat got caught in his eye. He'd been distracted by his thoughts and the need to be precise with the super metal, but now when he was this close to the raging inferno, the Alpha was really starting to feel the heat.

" _Aaahhh, it's too hot. I need to cool down."_

Quickly, Fenrir finally shed his thick, leather jacket and tossed it off to the side at a nearby chair.

" _There, that's a little better."_

"Okay, should probably let that simmer for a few minutes, then it'll be time to break out the hammers." Ruby stated matter-of-factly, watching as the liquid ooze bubbled away in its new holdings.

Fenrir grumbled, before crossing his arms and leaning up against a nearby table. Now that the only option was to wait, Fenrir was once again back to his earlier concerns regarding the leader of team JNPR.

Ruby watched on silently as Fenrir continued to look like the world was out to get him and he was trying to figure out how to get it first. Over time, Ruby had figured out that there was a slight difference between Fenrir's neutral scowl, and when he was actually annoyed.

The clue was how low his brow was furrowed. If he was actually mad, his eyebrows would be at a much harsher angle.

" _So, there's definitely something bothering him, but he doesn't want to talk about it"_ Ruby scrunched up her nose and pouted as she tried to think of a way to cheer up the grouchy Beowolf, without further annoying him in the process, _"C'mon Ruby, use that leader brain of yours."_

The girl and the Beast were brought out of their thoughts harshly, when a musical chime came ringing out from Ruby's scroll. The silver-eyed girl had just received a text from Weiss, just another reminder from the strict heiress to make sure Ruby didn't spend too much time down in 'That stuffy, messy fire pit' as her partner like to call it.

Ruby replied with a simple 'ok' before returning to look at the Grimm, only to discover that Fenrir's ears had swivelled slightly on his head, so that they were pointed directly towards Ruby's scroll.

Specifically, Fenrir had been drawn in by the melodic sounds that come out from the small device. His own notification sound on his scroll was just a simple, ear-grating shrill thing. Ruby's however was just a sample of some music she liked.

Suddenly, an idea started to form in the younger girls mind.

" _He was listening to the music. Does he even know what music is?"_ A wide grin crossed over Ruby's face as she realised she now had a way to bring Fenrir out of his funk, _"Well, he'll know what it is now!"_

Quickly flicking through her scroll, Ruby brought up one of her favourite playlists and zoomed over to the hunched Alpha.

"Hey Fenrir!" She said exuberantly, startling the Grimm slightly, "Come take a listen to this."

Fenrir was about dismiss the smaller girl, he had brooding to do. But then with a quick press of a button, a song started to play.

 _[A/N: It's 'Wings' from the volume 1 soundtrack]_

Fenrir halted in place as a slow, sombre melody encompassed the whole room. Ruby watched as Fenrir's face gradually shifted from a scowl, to a more relaxed expression, and finally, he shut his eyes and just listened to what he was hearing.

" _This… this is more of that strange 'howling' Weiss was telling me about."_

It truly sounded so strange and foreign to the young Beowolf, it was like no noise he'd ever heard in all his time in the wilds of Remnant.

And every time he heard more of this 'singing', Fenrir found himself enjoying it more and more.

And then the guitar riff kicked in.

Fenrir was thrown off a bit by the sudden accompaniment, but then he quickly got re-immersed in the tune. Actually, he started to enjoy it even more.

Ruby felt really good about herself as she witnessed her plan working brilliantly. The real kicker for her, was when she saw the corners of the black-and-bluenette's lips tug upwards to a very tiny smile, and his fingers lightly drummed against the side of his leg.

And then, the song came to an end, gradually fading away back to silence, much to the Grimm's slight disappointment. One of the verses near the end struck such a chord, that Fenrir nearly didn't realise that the song had ended.

 _I know that it seems pointless_

 _I know that it feels fake_

 _I know you can't stand the thought of_

 _Being stray_

 _One more day_

Fenrir stared off blankly into space, his mind strangely cleared yet clouded at the same time.

"… _One more day…"_

"So watch'ya think?" Ruby asked, snapping the Grimm out of his introspection.

"That was… very interesting" Fenrir's voice wobbled a bit at the start of that sentence, before he coughed lightly and spoke in a more controlled tone, "Who was that? The Human that was singing?"

"Oh, that's C.L. Williams," Ruby answered, "She's been making a big name for herself in recent years, she's one of my favourites. Hey! How do you know what singing is?"

Fenrir was about to answer by saying he'd heard Weiss sing in the infirmary and she'd explained it to him, but then he remembered how that was kind of an accidental and private moment between the two of them, and she probably wouldn't appreciate him telling everyone about it. So he settled for a half-truth instead.

"I heard a Human singing once," He explained gruffly, "They told me what it was."

Ruby was a little put out by how vague that statement was, but she didn't want to ruin the good mood that Fenrir was in.

"So," Fenrir asked, a suddenly softer look in his eyes as he stared down at Ruby "Do you have any more of those songs?"

Ruby beamed as she started bringing up the next batch of songs.

"Oh yes I do. Lots more."

…..

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Fenrir was covered in grime and sweat as he furiously beat away at the last four, long, red-hot strips of Svartalfarmium. Despite it being heated up at a ludicrous temperature, the meatal was already starting to cool just by being exposed to the air.

Fenrir needed to work quickly, and use all his strength to just make sure the metal was shaped properly.

It had been a long process, constantly having to stop to reheat the blades, to make sure they didn't cool down too much, too quickly.

So long in fact, that Ruby had fallen asleep, her head resting on her arms as she snored into the nearby table.

Fenrir didn't have the same luxury, they were so close to the end now, he couldn't afford to stop.

The temperature of the room had become so stifling, Fenrir gave up and just tossed his sweatshirt off to the side with his jacket. Ruby was sound asleep, he didn't have to worry about her thoughts on seeing his small, human body.

A human body that, while to him seemed weak, was actually rock-solid with hard muscle and tough skin.

Fenrir panted as he put every last drop of his strength into bashing away at the stubborn metal, the hammer he was using looking like it was on the verge of shattering itself.

" _Gotta keep going… can't stop."_

Mercifully, the shape of the blades were finally in a shape that the Grimm was satisfied with, and he gave his aching arms the tiniest of reprieves. Then, using the longest tongs he could find, Fenrir carefully picked up the four long sabres and brought them about to the oil bucket.

" _Easy!"_ He warned himself, his inner voice sounding suspiciously like Ruby's as the girl had instructed him to the same thing with the first group of four, _"I've only got one chance, mess it up and this will all have been for nothing."_

As slowly as he could, Fenrir lowered the tips of the blades into the oil. A loud sizzling sound and a torrent of steam billowed up upon the blades coming into contact with the liquid. Once the metal was fully submerged, Fenrir immediately started counting down the seconds in his head.

" _One minute, sixty seconds. 59… 58… 57…"_

The minute passed, and Fenrir brought the metal back up from the bucket, quickly shielding his eyes as he anticipated what was coming next. Sure enough, a bright gleam flooded the room with light briefly and a tiny humming sound made it's presence known to the area. Once the sudden glare had faded, Fenrir opened his eyes and observed his handiwork.

Fenrir's chest swelled with pride as he saw four, 12 inch, sharp and dangerous looking blades shining in the low light of the forge. Perfectly straight, and humming with power, Fenrir brought the tongs round to deposit the freshly made blades down with their other four brothers.

" _And there we are. Eight blades, ready to be fitted."_

The Grimm was about to call out to his guide to see how well the blades had come out, before remembering the younger Human was still deep in sleep. Fenrir debated calling it a night right here, but then he spied the finished gauntlets in the corner of his eye, the top plate on the forearms opened up, ready and waiting for the blades to be inserted into their holdings.

Fenrir debated for a second, before becoming completely overwhelmed with eager anticipation to finally get **HIS** weapons finished up, fully formed and ready for battle.

So, with a determined nod, Fenrir gingerly picked up the eight blades and his forlorn shirt and strode purposefully over to the waiting gauntlets.

…

Ruby awoke to a very dry mouth and dying of thirst. Apparently sleeping in what was basically a giant oven was not a good idea.

" _Geez, how long was I asleep. Fenrir shouldn't have let me doze off like that!"_

Ruby stood up, arching her spine back and clicking it into place as she made to go get herself a glass of water. However, on the way out, she belatedly realised that the temperature of the room had dropped quite a bit, and that a single spot of light was shining brightly in the corner of the otherwise dark forge.

Curious, Ruby cautiously made her way towards the spot of light. What the girl saw next, caused her to quickly but quietly hide behind a nearby shelving unit, her silver eyes shimmering with giddy excitement.

The source of light was from a desk lamp that had been turned on by Beacon's resident Grimm, who now stood in front of a full-length mirror and was slowly attaching his gauntlets to his arms.

Fenrir made short work of buckling and strapping the gauntlets tightly onto his limbs, the metal appendages going all the way up to his elbows. The gauntlets were a plain matte black, no details or paintwork had been added to them yet, neither had the guns for a matter of fact.

But those things could come later, in the Alphas opinion.

Slowly, Fenrir stretched and arched his arms all around, making absolutely sure he could move his arms around freely and that his elbows weren't suffering any discomfort. Once that had been taken care of, Fenrir let out a long exhalation of breath, before slowly bringing his right arm up in front of him.

" _Here we go,"_ He thought, _"Keep my arm straight, fist lined up with my wrist and…"_

Fenrir shut his eyes as his fingers pressed down on the four small buttons on the top of his gloved palms.

SSHHNNKK!

With a hiss and a slight grinding sound of metal on metal, four, lethal looking blades came shooting out just above Fenrir's knuckles. 12 Inches and shimmering with a quiet majesty, Fenrir gazed up in awe at the blades.

They worked. The gauntlets worked.

Tracing a finger delicately along the side of one of the blades, Fenrir was oblivious to the crouched girl watching him from behind, secretly revelling in the pleasure of getting the chance to see the normally stoic and stern Grimm look completely entranced at his own hard work.

" _Okay, now I know exactly how uncle Qrow felt when I made Crescent Rose."_

Fenrir prodded the tip of the blade with his finger, and let out a tiny exclamation of shock as the metal immediately pierced the skin and drew a tiny droplet of blood.

" _Yep, sharp."_ Fenrir wisely concluded.

Wanting to make sure everything was working perfectly, Fenrir now brought up his left arm and repeated the process on that limb.

SSHHNNKK!

The same results. Four more blades sprung out from Fenrir's left arm and glimmered with just as much brilliance as the ones on his right.

Feeling a tad bolder, Fenrir gradually brought the two sets of blades closer together and tapped them against each other.

CLANG!

A small shower of sparks followed this action and Fenrir stepped back slightly as his arms were pushed apart suddenly.

"Woah!" The wolf whispered.

Looking back into the mirror, Fenrir's face set itself into a firm glare. Ever since being thrust into this Human body, Fenrir had always felt like he looked small and weak.

But now, with these gauntlets, and these claws. He felt a little more like his old self. Strong and fierce, brimming with power.

" _Wonder if this is how all Huntsmen feel when they have their weapons?"_

Looking back to his new claws, Fenrir brought them back towards each other and started gliding them across one another. More sparks followed this action, and Fenrir just got faster and faster with his actions, finding the noise his claws made oddly satisfying.

"Woah! They look great!"

"Gah!"

Fenrir was snapped right out of his daze when a feminine voice spoke out behind his shoulder suddenly. In his haste to find the source of the voice, Fenrir's special awareness took a swan dive and as his arms came swinging round, his left claws raked along the mirror and cut through it like it wasn't even there.

The sounds of smashing glass hitting the floor destroyed the silence of the room and Fenrir and Ruby both started hopping around like maniacs in a desperate bid to avoid the shards.

But wait, there's more. Fenrir's right claws then cut through the shelving unit Ruby had been hiding behind not a few seconds ago. A loud groan came from the unit as it slowly sagged to one side and then toppled over completely.

At this point it was a wonder how the Grimm hadn't woken up the whole school with his blundering.

"PUT THEM AWAY!" Ruby yelled out as she immediately dashed over to the other side of the room, far away from the walking hazard that was Fenrir Lupus.

Fenrir eventually got a grip on himself and hit the buttons on his palms again, the blades immediately retreating back into their holdings with another hiss of air.

The two Teenagers just stood in silence for a short time, quietly surveying the destruction Fenrir had unintentionally wrought upon the poor Forge. When it seemed like the danger had passed, Ruby tentatively tiptoed towards the Alpha who continued to circle around himself.

"Right" Ruby said breathlessly, "We'll need to work on your special awareness first of all before we do anything else. Other than that, what do you think? Do they work like you want them to?"

Ruby stared up at the Grimm expectantly, anxiously anticipating his final verdict. Fenrir looked down at the heavy gauntlets affixed to his arms, feeling their heft as he flexed his arms up and down.

" _They cut through the glass and the shelves like they were made of mist."_

He'd need to get used to them for sure, the blades added some length to his limbs, meaning he needed to be careful when he swung his arms out wide like that. He'd also have to wear them all the time, to get used to the weight until he didn't even notice the difference.

Other than that…

"They're perfect Ruby." Fenrir exclaimed, coming dangerously close to actually smiling as the warmth spread through his body like warm milk.

Ruby giggled, easily catching Fenrir's near-smile, before zipping past the gigantic Grimmborn and grabbing several cans of spray paint.

"Well, I wouldn't say they're perfect yet. They still need some finishing touches." Ruby said, grinning toothily as she looked at Fenrir's new weapons.

"Aren't you tired? You were fast asleep a few minutes ago, and it's only a few hours until daybreak" Fenrir asked with a small amount of concern leaking through his vocal chords.

Ruby 'Psshhh'd" Fenrir's worries away with a wave of her hand.

"We're so close to the end, are you kidding? No, I'm buzzed now Fenrir, come on let's go!"

Again, the Beowolf was in a position was more than ready to call it a night, yet this small, cloak-wearing, scythe-wielding girl who the Grimm had initially wanted nothing to do with, was once again refilling Fenrir's tank with excitable energy and made him want to keep going.

" _These Humans… they are having a strange influence on me. And… I'm not finding it as unpleasant as I used too."_

So with a few, short cracks of his knuckles, Fenrir nodded towards his helper and went off to grab the waiting revolvers.

"Yeah, okay: Let's get this done!"

…

" _Tensions continue to rise in the lower West side of Vale as another Faunus was declared missing late last night. This marks the 28_ _th_ _Faunus disappearance in the last two weeks, with local authorities unable to locate any of the missing persons. Many members of the public and several politicians have speculated that this could be a form of Racial terrorism and that Faunus are specifically being targeted for as yet unknown reasons. More on this story at 4, for now back to you Cyril."_

" _Thank you, Lisa, now in other news…"_

Blake narrowed her eyes at the T.V, her mind running rampant with bleak and depressing thoughts. Even now, despite the fact that the war between Faunus and Humans had ended 35 years ago, it seemed there was still no end to the constant stream of hate and abuse that the Faunus had no choice but to suffer in silence. But now, it seemed to be getting worse, in Vale of all places.

" _Something's going on"_ The bow-wearing girl thought with concern _"Someone is behind these kidnappings. Some group, but who? And why?"_

"Oh honestly, how much longer are those two going to make us wait here?!"

Weiss was sat next to the preoccupied Cat-girl, huffing as she, Blake and Yang had all been dumped unceremoniously into the Student common room by their high-spirited team leader and the Imposing Grimm turned Faunus and had been instructed to wait their for them until they returned.

That was half an hour ago. By this pint, the Heiress had already thought of all the things she could have been doing in this time, all of them proving to be more productive than what she was actually doing.

"I'm sure they've got a good reason to bring us all in here like this" Yang spoke placatingly, "Ruby seemed excited, it has to be something important. Haven't seen her this giddy in a while."

Weiss huffed, "Whatever it is, couldn't they have waited until I wasn't halfway through a VERY important essay for Doctor Oobleck?"

"Weiss, to you, they're all very important" Yang said flatly.

"Your point!"

"WE'RE BACK!" Ruby yelled as she came charging through the doorway, startling the three other members of team RWBY and scattering rose petals everywhere, "We're here, we made it. Weiss! I see you standing up to leave, sit your butt back down right now."

Weiss sputtered indignantly, whilst Fenrir lumbered in after Ruby, looking at least slightly apologetic in front of the girls.

"Sorry for the wait," he said tersely, "Ruby forgot where she'd put the case and we had to look for it."

Ruby looked behind her and narrowed her eyes at the Grimm's nerve, calling her out in front of her teammates like that.

"Hey! You didn't know where it was either."

"That's because you stored it away before I could see it."

"Could both of you stop bickering and just show us what you wanted us to see" Weiss snapped impatiently.

Fenrir could sense Weiss's growing ire and winced slightly.

"So!" Yang spoke up, eager to get the conversation back on track herself, "What did you want to show us guys?"

Ruby rubbed her hands together, childish glee on her face as she stepped to the side and let Fenrir walk forwards towards the nearby coffee table.

"Go ahead big guy." Ruby spoke proudly, folding her arms in front of herself.

Grunting, Fenrir lifted up a steel grey briefcase and dropped it on to the table.

Everyone visibly hopped up a foot into the air as the briefcase thudded harshly against the wooden table.

" _Okay, whatever's in that case is very heavy."_

Yang was very intrigued now, almost missing the normally stern looking Beowolf, shuffle on his feet awkwardly with his hands behind his back.

"I made a weapon for myself" Fenrir eventually got out.

"With my expert and professional help." Ruby added off to the side.

"Yes… With Ruby's help."

Now the three girls in front of him were all leaning forward with interest. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Fenrir undid the clasps on the briefcases lid, and reached into its depths.

Fenrir visibly tensed as he lifted up the thick, heavy gauntlets that were now a polished black up to be seen by the three onlookers.

Of course they weren't fully black, there was also some white near the top of the Gauntlets, with two red stones.

Together, the white and red created the image of a Beowolf's mask.

Yang whistled in admiration as Fenrir already started fitting the Gauntlets onto his arms.

Blake was silent, but appreciating the details on Fenrir's new weapons.

" _Bold choice with the Grimm masks on the forearms."_

Weiss merely tutted and shook her head in amused exasperation.

" _Of course he picked Gauntlets. What else would he have picked?"_

Once the Gauntlets were secured on his arms, Fenrir made a slight show of crossing his arms in an 'X' formation in front of himself, and then he pressed the small bumps on the palms of his hands.

SSHHNNKK!

Eight, long silver blades came bursting out of the Alpha's knuckles, reflecting the light in the room almost like a mirror and quietly humming to themselves.

"Nice!" Yang drawled out, "Those look like they're ready to go fight some bad guys."

"And that's not all" Ruby spoke like a car salesman, "Go on Fenrir, show them the other thing!"

Fenrir quirked an eyebrow up in bemusement, before moving his fingers down to the single buttons at the base of his wrists.

A quiet whirring sound followed this action, before the forearm bracers opened up and two, long-barrelled revolvers popped from underneath, the chambers spinning for a bit of added flair.

"They are also guns." Fenrir said, his eyes twinkling with slight amusement, before his expression shifted to a more serious one, "So, what do you think of them?"

The three teammates gave each other quiet looks, before addressing the Alpha's question.

"I love them!" Yang said exuberantly, "Now we can be Gauntlet buddies. Just hope you can keep up with ol' Ember Celica."

Fenrir acknowledged Yang's challenging look with a nod of his head, before turning towards Blake.

"If your okay with them, then I'm sure they'll serve you well." Blake said, with only the barest of smiles to show she too approved of Fenrir's new accessories.

Finally Weiss.

"Do you have a name for them?"

Fenrir hadn't been expecting a question from the white-haired girl, but he recovered and shook his head.

"No… Not yet. I'm working on it though."

Weiss hummed to herself, before looking up at Fenrir with a perfectly poised expression.

"Well, personally I think weapons like Gauntlets and the like are very brutish and blunt weapons that rely more on power than any actual skill."

"Hey!" Yang yelled in only slightly mock offense.

"But…" Weiss continued, now offering Fenrir a much softer look, "They are… very you. I think they'll give you the edge you've been looking for."

Fenrir felt relieved. He didn't know why he'd been so anxious to hear the girls opinions on the results of his and Ruby's efforts, but it lifted a great weight off his shoulders when it turned out they all approved of his new weapons.

"OH YES!"

Ruby yelled up to the ceiling, before immediately falling backwards onto the nearest couch, and instantly falling asleep.

The others leaned forward in amazement as Ruby quietly snored on the couch.

"Huh, guess you two were really burning the midnight oil?" Yang remarked.

THUD!

The three girls jumped back in surprise as a very large body collided hard with the floor. Upon seeing Ruby pass out from exhaustion, Fenrir had become acutely aware of his own tired and worn body and mind.

And unlike the small redhead, he didn't have the luxury of having a chair behind him. So the floor would have to do as his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell backwards.

Yang didn't even try to supress her chuckles as the two quietly slept in the middle of the room. Blake shook her head and sighed wistfully whilst Weiss had already stood up and was making her way out of the small room.

"Lets just leave them be." Blake advised her partner.

"Yeah." Yang agreed.

And with that, Ruby's teammates quietly made their way out of the room. Leaving the Human and the Grimmborn quietly snoozing in the otherwise vacant room.

Fenrir's gauntlets shining all the while.

 **A/N: And there we go, another chapter that got way longer than I thought it would. I literally can't be arsed at this point; my mind just does what it wants.**

 **So yeah, Fenrir finally has his weapons. I already have a name for them, but that will be revealed at a later date. For now, I'll talk about the new piece of Grimm info I just made up.**

 **The Grimmspeech.**

 **I always liked the idea of what if the Grimm used to have their own language but they've long since abandoned it with only a few remembering its existence. After all, the Grimm are older than the Human race itself, some of them must have gotten smart enough to come up with their own way of communicating with each other outside of growls and roars.**

 **Because I'm not creative enough to just invent my own language, I just spliced together three separate languages and picked the words that I felt sounded the most primal earthy.**

 **Namely Old Norse, Black speech from LOTR and Dovahzul from Skyrim.**

 **Also Ruby's name in Grimmspeech literally translates out to "REDSTONE DARKFLOWER"**

 **That's all from me, leave your reviews and I'll see you soon. Buh bye!**


	23. Chapter 23: A new enemy part 1

**A/N: Me again, back with another chapter. In this one we're going to be introduced to that adversary to Fenrir that I've been hyping up for some time now. Hope you enjoy, and I'll talk more at the end.**

" _~Hmm hm Hand cause Hmm hmm I are gonna shine~"._

Fenrir was quietly humming along to himself as he glided along the cafeteria floor, a mop creating a water trail in front of him. It was currently the early hours of a Sunday morning and Fenrir, eager to make sure the rest of his day was cleared of any previous engagements, had gone up to Professor Goodwitch's office and asked if he could serve his detention now as opposed to later.

And so, here the Grimm was, cleaning the entirety of the massive and vacant lunch hall. He'd initially found these chores he'd been assigned tedious and boring. But, after his time with Ruby in the forge, and the long bouts of silence whenever they were waiting for a piece of metal to melt or cool, or had simply been too preoccupied to make a conversation with one another, Fenrir found himself strangely not minding these mind-numbing tasks.

It seemed he was the type of person who preferred to be doing something mindless as opposed to nothing at all.

Though he still had no intentions of going anywhere near that trophy cabinet ever again for as long as he lived.

" _Then again,"_ He wondered, _"Maybe I don't mind it so much now, because now I've got something to listen to."_

The Grimm looked down towards his hip, where his scroll continued to play a funky dance tune that Fenrir couldn't help but bop his head along to. After Ruby had shown him almost all the songs on her scroll, she'd once again swiped his own scroll out from under him and after adding her number to his [Very small] list of contacts, copied a bunch of her own songs and transferred them over to the Alpha's scroll.

Not that he wasn't grateful, but she could have at least warned him before she did that.

The inclusion of the music, and Fenrir's newfound appreciation for the mundanities of life, made time pass much quicker than it normally did, and soon enough, Fenrir had cleaned the entire cafeteria from top to bottom.

Stepping back and admiring his handiwork, Fenrir nodded to himself and shut off his scroll. Now that he was done with that, Fenrir needed only to inform Goodwitch about his completed task and then he could get on with what he really wanted to do today.

The Beowolf deposited the mop and bucket in the nearby janitors closet, dusted his hands of invisible debris, and started making his way through the empty corridors.

Well, almost empty.

Fenrir nearly gave himself whiplash when he spotted a tall, grey-haired figure disappearing down a nearby hallway. Tip-toeing speedily along, Fenrir looked round the corner to confirm that it was, in fact, Professor Ozpin casually strolling through the vacant hallway's of his academy.

" _Does that man ever sleep?"_ The Grimm wondered to himself.

As the Alpha continued to quietly watch the older man aimlessly wander through the hallways, a delightfully awful idea whispered into Fenrir's mind.

" _This guy always gets a kick out of sneaking up on me. Well lets see how he likes it."_

Fenrir brought his body down low to the ground and started slowly stalking towards the unaware professor. Fenrir was putting every bit of his hunter training to use here, sticking to the shadows like glue and making every bit of contact with the ground featherweight and silent.

Slowly but surely, Fenrir found himself directly behind the headmaster and started to rise back up onto his legs, baring his claws and teeth as he prepared to let out a loud roar and startle the older man out of his skin.

"Good morning Mr Lupus."

"…"

Sometimes in life, one does not always get what they want. A fact Fenrir had just been made aware of as his roar prematurely died in his throat at the sight of Ozpin casually turning towards him and smiling warmly at him.

"H-how… How did you know I was here?" Fenrir asked in disbelief.

"When you've fought the creatures of darkness for as long as I have Mr Lupus, you tend to develop a sixth sense that lets you know when ones around" Ozpin explained before quirking an eyebrow, "Also your right foot lands just a little heavier than your left."

Fenrir blinked before looking down at his boots, tapping his right foot experimentally.

"It was a good attempt though." Ozpin attempted to soften the blow.

" _Don't give me your pity."_ Fenrir thought bitterly.

"So, what brings you around here this early in the morning? I don't even think the others are awake yet."

Fenrir huffed before folding his arms and assuming his usual stand-offish posture.

"I was finishing up my detention for the day. I was on my way to Goodwitch to let her know I'm done when I spotted you."

"Ah." Ozpin exclaimed, "I suppose that is a sound method to have on a weekend. Get your punishment out of the way early so you have the rest of the day to yourself."

Ozpin resumed his leisurely pace through the corridor, leading Fenrir to tag along behind him. The older man was truly a puzzle to the Beowolf, he always carried himself with this mysterious air, like he knew something that you didn't, nor would you ever.

It irritated him immensely.

"Now that you have the rest of the day off," Ozpin continued, "What do you plan to do with it?"

The question was innocent enough, but the moment Fenrir registered it, he started to grow uncomfortable, a tingling sensation running up the back of his neck that he started to scratch at nervously.

The reason he was uncomfortable was because he had wanted the day off to find a way to repay a certain silver-eyed girl.

" _Ruby… she went out of her way to help me build my new weapons. If not for her, I probably wouldn't have got them looking nearly as good as they do now. Hell, I probably wouldn't even have finished them yet."_

"Ruby helped build my Gauntlets," Fenrir explained slowly, eyes refusing to meet Ozpins head, "I owe her a debt. I was planning to spend today trying to figure out how to repay her."

Ozpin stopped in his tracks and regarded the young Alpha with a half contemplating- half amused look. The Headmaster had been monitoring the pair for the past few days as they worked tirelessly in the Forge. The girl and the Grimm had grown closer over that time, certainly closer than they had been before.

Still, the older man was surprised to hear that Fenrir felt like he owed the girl.

"I doubt Miss Rose would expect you to repay her in anyway" Ozpin tried to explain, "I'm sure she was simply happy to help."

"Doesn't matter" Fenrir responded vehemently, "I still owe her, so I need to do this."

"I… did not think the Grimm would take owing someone a debt so seriously" Ozpin said honestly.

"Of course we do" Fenrir said, before figuring he should explain himself a little better, and decided a story would be the best way to do that, "When I was… five, I was ambushed by a group of Human Bandits and a Boarbatusk came to my aid. I don't especially like those beady eyed pigs, but I owed him my life, so I travelled with him and on his next hunt, helped him secure a great number of kills. After that, the debt was paid, and we carried on our separate ways."

Ozpin listened politely, at first surprised that at five years old Fenrir had nearly been killed, before remembering that by that point, Fenrir had already been an adult for four of those years. Still, the story had helped shed some light on just how important debts were to the Grimm, and how they'd always make sure any debt was repaid in full.

"Well… if it means that much to you, I suppose I'll just stay out of your way" Ozpin acquiesced, before giving Fenrir another questioning glance, "So, how exactly do you plan to repay Miss Rose?"

This was the part Fenrir was looking forward to the least, because it involved him now having to take a massive risk by telling the grey-haired man. Looking out to the nearest window, Fenrir pointed out of it, towards the horizon where he knew the kingdom of Vale resided.

"I was… going to have a look down in Vale. Humans like to… get… 'things'… for other people. I was going to see if I could find a 'thing' that Ruby might like and get it for her."

Ozpin assumed that Fenrir was trying to say he was going to get a gift for Ruby, though that just lent itself to a whole lot more scrutiny.

"Mr Lupus," Ozpin said evenly, "Were you planning on telling anyone you were going to do this? Go down, into the city of Vale, by yourself, surrounded by thousands of Humans and Faunus?"

Fenrir winced as Ozpin hit the nail on the head.

"Noooooo…"

" _I am really bad at lying."_ Fenrir said to himself as he inwardly facepalmed.

Ozpin looked just as unimpressed as Fenrir felt, "And I suppose you also didn't consider how you were going to pay for whatever you got while in Vale? Or, were you just planning on taking whatever caught you eye?

Fenrir grumbled and groused as he stared down at his boots, his tail once again wrapping around his waist in building tension. Ozpin merely sighed as the Alpha's body language basically answered all of his questions.

"Mr Lupus" Ozpin spoke calmly, "You can't just steal from people. Your reputation is bad enough as it is, the last thing you want is people finding out you're a thief as well as a Grimm. Miss Rose certainly won't be thrilled to find out you stole for her."

"Mrrrhhhggrrhhh…"

Fenrir just continued to shrink in on himself as he realised his own foolishness. Ozpin was right, Ruby would not at all like the fact that Fenrir had stolen from others just to appease his own sense of honour.

"Still…" Ozpin continued, smiling slightly to himself as he attempted to put a more positive spin on the Grimm's idea, "I suppose one could consider it progress that you wish to repay those who have done you a service. Even if they are **HUMAN."**

Fenrir didn't like the way Ozpin emphasised the last word, nor how he shrewdly smiled at him.

" _I get it Ozpin. They're human, please stop reminding me how much I've gone completely insane."_

The headmaster looked to be deep in thought about something, leaving Fenrir to just stare at him in confusion. After a moment of silence between the two, Ozpin looked back towards the young Faunus and spoke evenly.

"Alright Mr Lupus, how about I make you a deal." Fenrir unfolded his arms and looked at the older man with intrigue, "I will allow you to go down into Vale and find a way to settle your debt with Miss Rose."

Ozpin's stare suddenly turned deathly serious and Fenrir had to fight the urge to recoil at the sight of it.

"But," The older man said, "You will leave your weapons here. You will have no need for them out there, and it would be better if you removed the temptation completely."

As the Headmaster talked, he gestured towards the two gauntlets currently affixed to Fenrir's arms. Since he'd woken up that morning, they were the first things to go onto his body. Weight training he'd told himself, the more he wore them, the quicker he'd get used to having them on his limbs.

"Following that," Ozpin continued, "You will not get involved in any situation that requires you to get violent or aggressive. If I find out you've lashed out at a civilian, then I'm afraid it will be a long **long** time before I let you go outside again. Do you understand?"

Fenrir grumbled, reminded again of how he was still under heavy scrutiny for his short temper and savage nature.

"… I understand." Fenrir eventually forced out.

"Good." Ozpin nodded, "Well then, go see professor Goodwitch, tell her your done with your chores for the day, then store your weapons in your locker and take the next available Airbus into Vale. It is safe to assume that you have a locker now, yes?"

Fenrir nodded, for indeed he did now have a locker of his own. After himself and Ruby had awoken from their coma, the reenergized girl had all but dragged Fenrir down to the locker room to get him all set up. All he needed to do was input a six-digit code and the locker would lock or unlock whenever he wanted.

"Perfect," Ozpin remarked, "Also regarding money, head down the hall past professor Port's office and you'll come up to student finance. We keep a small set of funds set aside for students who suffer with financial difficulties, given your… situation, I'd say you more than qualify for it."

That provided the Grimm with a small sense of ease. At least he wouldn't be completely penniless during his stay in this Human Kingdom.

" _Still don't see the point of Lien though. You get goods and food in exchange for small pieces of plastic and metal circles. Mad is what these Humans are."_

"Well, I've kept you long enough" Ozpin closed off, resuming his slow stride around the school hallways, "Enjoy yourself in Vale Mr Lupus."

Fenrir turned and was about to resume his trek towards Goodwitch's office, when a thought occurred to him that left him uncertain.

"What if I have no choice? What if I'm cornered by Humans who want me dead and I have to fight back?"

Ozpin was close to dismissing the Alpha's assumingly wild question, but then he remembered the news reports he'd been reading yesterday.

" _A great number of Faunus have been kidnapped recently. He may not identify as one, but he still has the appearance of a Faunus."_

"If it really is an emergency" Ozpin said emphatically, "Then you can simply call your locker with your scroll, they should have connected to each other automatically. Simply input the code into your scroll, and your locker will rocket over to your current location in a matter of minutes."

Seeing if the older man was right, Fenrir brought out his scroll and after a few seconds of searching, found a small icon in the shape of a locker tucked away in the corner of his device.

" _Well, that's useful."_

Fenrir looked back up at the grey-haired man and nodded at him.

"Thanks Ozpin."

With that, Fenrir carried on his way, feeling a tad more confident about his chance to complete his self-imposed mission. Ozpin just continued to watch him until he disappeared from sight. At which point, Ozpin's neutral expression shifted to a worried frown.

" _I'm placing a lot of faith in you right now Mr Lupus. Don't make me regret it."_

…

Fenrir disliked flying.

The first time he had been on one of these flying transports, he'd had to fight hard to keep the contents of his stomach inside of his body. The second time hadn't been as bad, though that was likely due to his mind being occupied with other things at the time.

Namely, he and Ozpin venturing into the Emerald Forest, searching for the place where Fenrir had become… Fenrir.

This third time however, that lurching, clenching feeling had returned full force and Fenrir had to stand in the corner of the Airbus again to avoid causing a scene.

" _How do Nevermore's do this? This far up from the ground, it's nauseating."_

Once Goodwitch had dismissed him, Fenrir had wasted no time in storing away his weapons and finding the student finance office. He now currently had a small wad of Lien in his jacket pocket. It was… smaller than he'd expected, and apparently it was meant to last him the whole month.

" _Well, whatever"_ He reasoned to himself, _"I don't think I'm what people would class as a 'big spender'. I can make this work."_

Taking his mind off his growing discomfort over being so high up in the air, Fenrir looked out the nearby window to watch the sea of clouds float along beneath him. He disliked flying, but views like this weren't awful.

" _Wonder what I should even get Ruby?"_ Fenrir wondered after a few minutes of just watching the landscape travel beneath him.

" _I know she likes sweets. I know she really likes Strawberries. Urrgghh, but that's too easy, I can't just get her food. I could try finding something for her weapon? But… no! That thing is already very up-to-date, I doubt I could find anything new to add to it."_

The Alpha grumbled as he was once again reminded how half-baked this plan of his was. Eventually, Fenrir decided that he would just walk around the town and see if anything stood out to him.

Not much of a plan really, but then Fenrir never really had much of plan to begin with. On reflection, Fenrir realised that for the past month he'd just been going through the motions and had never really had a clear goal to focus on. In the past, the goal had always been find humans, kill humans.

" _Now though,"_ Fenrir ruminated troublingly, _"The only reason I'm at Beacon is because I have nowhere else to go. The only reason I made weapons is because Ruby persuaded me into actually doing it. I… I've got no idea what to do going forward."_

These thought's, about the uncertainty of his own future and if he could even have a future as he was, disturbed Fenrir greatly, and kept him disturbed right up until the Airbus touched back down to solid earth.

The shake of the craft as it landed however, knocked the Grimm out of his stupor. Still troubled, Fenrir made his way slowly out of the Airbus, deciding for his own mental wellbeing that it would be best to shelve that topic of thought for a later date.

" _Now though"_ Fenrir thought as he gazed out around himself and at the streets of Vale that lay before him, _"I have a debt to pay."_

Unbeknownst to the Beowolf as he joined the crowd of people making their way into the city proper, a short statured man spotted the Grimm as he was hauling off cargo from the Airbus. One look at Fenrir, and the man dropped what he was carrying and sped off, frantically pulling out his scroll and dialling a number that he'd had for some time.

"Hank!" The man whisper-yelled into his scroll, "You remember that Wolf Faunus who punted you through your own car? Well he just turned up at the drop-off and is walking into Vale right now!"

Silence was all the short man heard on the line, before a masculine voice snarled viciously.

"Get the others! That mutt is going to the boss… Tonight!"

….

Fenrir walked for hours, combing the entire town, searching for something, anything that would be a suitable item to give the young Rose.

But nothing looked right… Or was simply too expensive for Fenrir to afford.

At one point, Fenrir had gotten desperate and looked in a weapons parts shop. As he'd expected, Ruby's Crescent Rose was already well equipped with all the latest upgrades and mods, there was nothing he could get here that Ruby didn't already have.

" _I suppose this is what I get for thinking this would be an easy job."_ Fenrir groused, hands shoved firmly in his jacket pockets and his head bowed down.

There was one good thing that had come out of this whole excursion however. Save for some small spikes of animosity or fear, Fenrir's negativity radar had been mostly silent all day. To the citizens of Vale, Fenrir Lupus was just an ordinary, unassuming Faunus. A drastic change from the constant shroud of negative energy that enveloped the Grimm wherever he went in Beacon.

It was… refreshing.

However, that change of pace became steadily less pleasant as the day continued and Fenrir was still empty handed.

And then his bad mood was promptly capped off when his stomach started to grumble.

" _Ahrrggghhh, Forget this!"_ Fenrir complained, rudely reminded of his persistent, human need for sustenance, _"Maybe I'll be able to get a better idea of what to get Ruby if I have a full belly."_

For a time, Fenrir peered out above the crowds of people, seeing if he could find a suitable place to eat. And then he was reminded of the first time he'd been to Vale, and how he'd been even hungrier then.

" _I wonder… That café shouldn't be far from here. Maybe it's open."_

It took several attempts, and multiple running into dead-ends, but eventually Fenrir was on the right street and was steadily making his way towards the café where Fenrir had had his first, proper interaction with a human being.

He couldn't help but wonder if that Deer Faunus girl from before would be there again.

But as he made his way towards the front of the small café, Fenrir quickly realised that things had changed dramatically since the last time he was here.

The walls were covered in graffiti. Peering closer, revealed that the graffiti was actually words, words that were targeted towards a certain sub-set of Humanity.

 _We won't be served by Animals._

 _Out with Faunus._

 _Beasts belong in cages._

Along with these words, holes had been smashed into the windows of the café, along with several chairs and tables broken into pieces and litter strewn about everywhere.

Compared to how this place had been last time Fenrir had been here, the place was a complete and total wreck.

" _This… this is just typical."_ Fenrir huffed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, surveying the damage with a cynical glare. Only Humans could ever display this level of pettiness, to attack a small establishment like this on the grounds that Faunus worked there.

Fenrir disliked Lancers greatly, chittering little bugs that they were. But still, he never tore down their hives simply because he didn't care for them.

" _Doesn't look like I'll be getting any food here. Better to find someplace else."_

Fenrir turned on his heel and was about to walk away, when a tiny jolt of negativity started to tingle in the back of his skull.

" _Grief… Desperation… Hopelessness."_

Tuning his senses, Fenrir determined that the source of this new mass of negative emotion was coming from directly behind the derelict café. Fenrir internally debated with himself if he should investigate further or not, reminded of his promise to Ozpin to not get involved with any Human affairs whilst he was down here.

But old habits die hard. The Grimm were drawn towards negative sources like moths to a flame, and Fenrir just could not ignore that inbuilt compulsion to seek out this new swell of misery.

Making his way gingerly round the backside of the café, Fenrir's lupine ears started to pick out the sounds of a hurried conversation nearby. There were two voices, one male, the other a familiar female.

"Please, it took me forever to get this job! There's got to be some way…"

"Listen Deery, I don't know if you looked at the front of my café earlier, but it's a wreck! As long as I got Faunus working here, that'll just keep happening, and I'll end up all outta customers. I'm sorry, but I gotta business to run, and I can't afford to keep paying for these damages."

Turning the corner showed the Grimm the two people who were currently arguing with each other. One, a middle-aged, portly man with a sweat covered brow and thick, black moustache with equally black, curly hair on the top of his head and beady little eyes that looked incredibly tired.

The other… the deer Faunus Fenrir had met on his first day in Vale. Mid-length, bright orange hair, deep green eyes, slender frame and small white antlers on the top of her head.

"Please!" The girl pleaded once more, tears already starting to well up in her eyes.

But clearly the older man was done talking, he simply threw up his hands and walked back into his establishment, slamming the door behind him harshly. The girl didn't relent however, furiously pounding away at the locked door, screaming and yelling obscenities that caused even the Beowolf to step back in shock. But then the anger faded like a short-lived firework, and in it's place was only sorrow. Fenrir simply watched as the smaller girl slowly crumpled to the floor and quietly wept.

" _This place was really important to her."_

Fenrir was figuratively stuck in place, unsure if he should walk towards the girl or turn around and walk away.

" _Not our business"_ A cold part of his brain proclaimed, _"She means nothing to us. Leave it be."_

Unfortunately, Fenrir wasn't given a choice as the antlered girl chose that moment to look up and immediately spot the dark shadow of the Alpha, his eyes glowing in the low light.

The emerald-eyed girl very nearly screamed and crawled backwards on the dirty floor, unable to make out the identity of the shadowy figure. Quickly, Fenrir darted forward with his hands held up placatingly.

"Easy," He grumbled lowly, "It's just me."

Stepping properly into the light, the girl was able to get a better look at the mysterious figure. For a few seconds she just stared at him in confusion, before realisation hit her like a tidal wave and her eyes widened in surprise.

"It… It's you!" She exclaimed, "That wolf Faunus who beat up those guys a month ago."

Standing back up, the deer Faunus was able to get a better look at the younger man whom she hadn't seen since that day when he'd picked up a man and hurled him like a baseball at a car.

He looked a lot better. Last time she'd seen him, he was pale and sickly looking, dark rings under his eyes and his hair falling limp in front of his face. Now though, there was more colour in his cheeks and he'd clearly gotten a few good meals in him. Along with that his hair was more vibrant looking and was swept back off of his face.

" _Why's he still wearing that busted up jacket though? It looks like it'll fall apart any day now."_

"You… you're looking a lot better now." The girl remarked, making an attempt to smile in order to lighten the mood.

The effect was ruined somewhat by the visible tear trails lining her face.

Fenrir didn't respond, instead looking towards the now shut door and folding his arms.

"What was that about?"

The girl visibly winced, before again trying to put on a cheerful façade and gesturing to the backdoor.

"Oh I uh… I got fired." A hollow chuckle escaped her lips and the Grimm immediately knew it was fake. Though, that didn't stop him from frowning in confusion.

" _I don't understand. She is not on fire, what does she mean?"_

"I mean it's not like I'd worked here long, less than a year actually" the girl continued, her cheerful demeanour rapidly failing as her emotions overwhelmed her, "But you know… it was long enough to get to know people and they weren't as bad as the ones that you had to deal with."

The orange-haired woman looked down at her feet, trying to hide her no doubt miserable looking face. But while Fenrir couldn't see her, his canine ears easily heard a very dark, hateful whisper.

"Damn the Humans."

Fenrir closed his eyes in understanding. He understood now, the café had been attacked by those who despised the Faunus, and the owner had decided to get rid of any Faunus employees in order to avoid any more destruction of property.

" _Cowardly!"_ Fenrir sneered, his hackles rumbling quietly, _"Rather than stand beside those who work under him, he cast them aside like trash instead."_

"Yes," Fenrir spoke aloud, recapturing the older girls attention, "Damn them all!"

Despite the look of pure anger on the dark haired mans face, the girl felt oddly comforted by the boy's shared disdain for humankind.

"So," Fenrir remarked, scratching at the side of his face, "What will you do now?"

The girl sighed before attempting to answer as optimistically as she could.

"Well, I guess I'll have to break out the old resumes again. Though, with things being so tense around here lately, finding another job might be a bit trickier than last time."

Fenrir's brows furrowed in confusion. Seeing the larger mans questioning look, the girl elaborated.

"A lot of Faunus have been getting kidnapped recently. A lot of places won't take Faunus employees now out of fear that they might get kidnapped too, or have their businesses hurt. Or they won't take them out of hatred, one or the other."

The Alpha once again saw a look of hopeless anger cross the girls face.

"Do you have family who can help you?" He asked.

The girl shook her head, "They're all in Vacuo. I came here because I thought I'd have an easier life. Yeah… an 'easier life'."

The two stood in silence, Fenrir unsure of how to continue this rather dreary conversation. Evidently the silence had been too long as the girl started to smooth out her clothes, clear her eyes and make to leave the back-alley.

"Well" She said sadly, "I've gotta head home. Got to start job-hunting right away if I even want a chance of getting paid before the rents due."

Fenrir watched the girl steadily make her way out of the alleyway, before rolling his shoulders and striding forward to match her pace.

"Huh… What are you…?"

"You said it yourself" Fenrir said gruffly, "Faunus are being kidnapped. It is not safe for you to walk by yourself, I'll walk with you until you get home."

The girl looked like she was about to object, until she saw a very no-nonsense frown on the taller mans face and realised he would not take no for an answer.

" _Oh well. He doesn't seem like a bad guy; besides I could use someone to talk to right now."_

"I guess you have a point" She eventually answered the Beowolf's questioning look, "Ok, sure, lets walk together."

And with that, the two left the dingy alley and stepped back out into the afternoon sun.

"Oh!" The deer Faunus yelled suddenly, startling Fenrir slightly, "It just hit me, you're speaking properly now. Guess your throat got better huh?"

Fenrir blinked owlishly, before remembering how silent he'd been the first time the two of them had met.

"Uhhh… Yes. I'd had an accident with some Dust, it messed up my voice a bit."

" _I might be terrible at lying. But I'm getting good at telling half-truths."_

The girl nodded, believing his story before clapping her hands behind her back.

"Soooo… Now that your voice is all better, care to tell me your name? Or do I just call you Wolfy?"

Fenrir huffed, reminded of the silly nickname Yang insisted on calling him.

"No" He said lightly, "My name is Fenrir Lupus."

The girl turned to more directly face the man she now knew as Fenrir Lupus, before holding a hand out.

"Well, nice to meet you again Fenrir. My name is Jade Doe."

Fenrir, long since used to this Human gesture, took Jade's hand and shook it firmly.

"I thought it was Deery?" He questioned.

Jade's expression fell somewhat.

"No, that's just a nickname that got tossed around by a few people at the café. I hate it."

Fenrir felt his spine tingle as he felt the waves of negative energy come washing off the smaller girl.

"Right. Well, let us be on our way Jade."

Fenrir walked off, his long, slow strides carrying him forward, oblivious to the look he was receiving from his acquaintance. He had, rather unintentionally just displayed a small amount of respect towards the girl.

She appreciated it greatly.

"So, where are you living these days?" Jade asked, speeding up to match the Grimmborns pace.

"I found a place at Beacon" Fenrir answered.

"Oh, you're a Huntsman?"

"No!" Fenrir snapped, before quickly reigning in his anger and speaking softer, "I uh… *Ahem* I'm just living there for the time being. It's not a permanent situation."

" _No matter how much I look like these Humans, I will never be a Huntsman. I will not hunt my own kind."_

Getting over his short-lived anger, Fenrir decided to steer the conversation back towards something more positive. As the two walked, the Grimm talked about some of the more amusing moments he'd experienced at the academy, of course leaving out all the hatred he received on a daily basis along with anything that might reveal his true identity.

Unfortunately, the two became so engrossed in their conversation, that Fenrir's sixth sense failed to pick out the malignant energy emanating from a group of hateful eyes.

Watching their every move.

…..

"That's him, I recognise that ratty old jacket anywhere."

Hank peered at the dark-haired man from the top of his tinted glasses, his face twisted up with sadistic glee. It had cost him quite a bit of lien to get his car repaired after the rabid dog had slammed his head through the windshield.

He hadn't forgotten, and now he was about to get his revenge on the stupid animal.

"Should we jump em now Hank?" One of Hanks friends asked from behind him, "I bet boss'll be happy if we bring him back two Faunus scum."

"Dude, don't you remember what happened last time we tried to take that guy on?" Another male spoke, "Trying to take them both on at once is just asking to fail."

"Shut your traps!" Hank snapped, silencing the two men behind him. With that settled, Hank turned to look down at the shorter man who had called Hank in the first place.

"You know what to do, once he's alone draw his attention and get him somewhere nice and quiet. We'll take care of the rest."

The smallest man nodded his head and rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation.

"The boss is going to pay us well tonight boys!" He called out before darting off, preparing for his 'Performance'. Hank scoffed and continued to watch the Wolf Faunus from afar. He was a vindictive man, he'd be the first to admit that, and he personally couldn't wait to make this particular dog pay for embarrassing him.

"Grendel's gonna have a field day with you, mutt."

….

Turns out, Jade lived in the bottom left corner of the Agricultural district, the lower west side of Vale. By the time the girl and the Grimm had arrived on Jade's street, the sun was already beginning its descent towards the west horizon.

" _I'll have to head back to Beacon straight after this. Damn! I wasn't able to find anything."_

Despite feeling a little annoyed that this whole excursion into Vale had essentially amounted to nothing, Fenrir couldn't really find the time to be angry.

He was more concerned and troubled by the scenery in front of him. Or rather, how it had changed.

As the two had walked further and further through the lower half of Vale, the buildings around them had changed, becoming far less modern and well-put together, and more dilapidated and run-down. In fact, once the two arrived on the road that led to the Deer Faunus's house, Fenrir saw a high-rise building that had all its windows boarded up and the back wall was just gone. The roads were cracked, the streetlights didn't have any bulbs at all and the Grimm spotted at least five trash bins that had been upturned or were overflowing with rubbish.

That was to say nothing of the people roaming around. Many of them, more than half for sure, were Faunus. The few that were outside were rushing, heads bowed down and averting any and all eye-contact with the two.

The clothes they wore looked like they'd been worn for several days in a row. Jade had described Fenrir as sickly looking when she'd first seen him. It was only now that the Alpha understood what that meant.

And then to cap it off, Fenrir saw an elder man with tusks coming out of his bottom lip, sitting on the corner, a tattered coat draped over his shoulders and a small, metal tin next to him with a cardboard sign propped up on it.

 _I'm a person too._

Fenrir walked up towards the white-haired man, not even hearing Jade's half-hearted call to stop. The Grimm looked down at this frail old man and felt a strange mixture of emotions stirring within him.

"Got something to say sonny?"

Fenrir startled as the old mans raspy voice cut through the silence abruptly. The man looked up at him with tired eyes, conveying defeated sorrow without the Grimm even having to use his sixth sense to see it.

"What happened to you" Fenrir asked breathlessly.

"Heh, once my back gave out, the construction company I worked for decided I just wasn't worth the effort anymore, according to them I was… "An old pig who was better off put-down". So, here I am, living out the last few days of my life on whatever sidewalk isn't already taken."

" _Cast aside… Just gotten rid of."_

Such cold brutality shook Fenrir more than he'd care to admit. Fenrir had heard from quite a few people that the Faunus were discriminated and looked down upon. But, seeing it in person, Fenrir was just at a loss for words.

"You're young kid." The old man continued, "And you look like you're in a better place than me. Don't waste it, don't take it for granted because it could very easily be taken from you."

And then the old man bowed his head down to look at the floor again. Fenrir eventually remembered how to walk and turned back to face the emerald-eyed girl who had just been watching with a pensive look in her eyes.

"A lot of the folks round here are Faunus like me, who thought living here would be easier than where we were before. Truth is… I don't think anything's changed since the Faunus war."

Jade walked off after that, leaving Fenrir alone with his thoughts. Thought's that left the Alpha more and more disturbed.

" _This… This is not right! Its not fair, why should the Faunus be abused and mistreated like this? The Grimm don't like each other but we'd never do this to one another."_

" _Yes,"_ The soft voice remarked, an underlying sadness in its harmonic voice, _"It is unfair… They need to be helped, shown a better path."_

" _We are not the ones to do that"_ Fenrir thought bitterly, _"It is Human nature to be cruel to that which is different from them. We are one Grimm; this problem is too vast and too old for us. There's nothing I can do."_

And there it was again, that feeling of helplessness that made Fenrir want to roar to the heavens in fury. He could not think of a single way to help the Faunus out of their predicament.

Or even really figure out why or if he should help them. He looked like one, but he was not a Faunus.

Didn't stop him from feeling like he should be doing something though.

In no time at all, the two arrived at Jade's residence, a block of flats that looked as dog-eared as the other buildings in the area. Jade looked up at the hovel she lived in, reminded of the fact that unless she found a new form of income soon, she wouldn't be able to afford even this place.

"Well" Jade sighed, turning to look the larger man in the eye, "This is my stop, thanks for walking me here Fenrir. Hope you do well at Beacon, from what I saw a month ago, I think you'll be a great Huntsman."

" _I said I'm not a… oh forget it!"_

"You sure you'll be okay?" Fenrir asked, instead of bringing up his position at Beacon again.

The antlered girl looked up again at her building, feeling the cold grip of reality set in. She wasn't holding out hope for a job, but if she focused on it, she was sure she'd lay down and cry right there.

She'd already embarrassed herself once in front of the leather-wearing teen, she didn't want to do it again.

"I'll be fine."

Fenrir's senses tingled at the lie. She wouldn't be fine, and she knew it. Fenrir growled under his breath, this was infuriating. This girl had done nothing to deserve this, in a few days she'd be in the exact same position as the old man.

" _She… She's innocent."_

The Beowolf had never once thought of a single Human or Faunus like that. They were supposed to all be guilty of their crimes towards Remnant. But Fenrir just couldn't bring himself to think like that.

Not with her.

" _There has to be something I can do! I can't leave here until I at least try to make this right."_

And it was as Fenrir roughly shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, that an idea finally popped into his head, as his fingers wrapped around small, plastic squares.

"Well… Hope I see you around sometime." Jade muttered as she started to walk inside the old building.

"Wait!"

Jade nearly jumped out her skin as Fenrir suddenly shouted and stalked up right in front of her. And then he removed his hands from his jacket and produced a sizable wad of Lien from his pockets. Jade's eyes widened at the sight, even more so when the boy shoved the wad into her chest.

"Take it!" He ordered, a determined glint in his eyes.

"What! Buh… I uh… I can't just…" Jade blustered. She wanted to refuse the wolf Faunus's offer, but then the man just pushed the money towards her again.

"I have NO need for it." Fenrir said firmly, "It will keep you going for a few days… I think, I honestly don't have a good concept of money."

Again, Jade wanted to deny the mans… stern… kindness. But given the situation, the amount he was offering certainly would keep the heat off her for a while. Eventually after a bunch of humming and Hmmming, Jade eventually relented and accepted the Lien.

Though as she stared down at the small, plastic cards, she felt bitter resentment coil in her gut. She couldn't help but think, if she had been born Human, she'd never have needed handouts like this.

Yet here she was, barely scraping by, just for a pair of antlers on her head.

"I hate this" She whispered, Fenrir's ears twitching slightly, "I came here because I wanted to prove that I could survive here, but I can't. Not while the Humans are in charge. It makes me so angry."

"Good."

Jade looked up, staring straight into a pair of Midnight blue orbs.

"Hold on to that anger," Fenrir said, his voice rumbling like thunder and resonating within the girls bones, "Use it, let it fuel your drive. Don't ever let them make you feel like less than what you are. Because they mean nothing, it is only you who can ensure your own survival. You'll get through this, I'm sure of it."

Fenrir didn't know where _any_ of that came from, but he knew he meant every word. At any rate, this girl could use some positive reinforcement right now, he just hoped that was what he had done.

It seemed like he had as all of a sudden, the girl smiled, really smiled. She pocketed the Lien, nodded her head and placed a delicate hand on the Alphas shoulder.

"You're a good man. Thank you for this."

Fenrir… didn't react. Or at least didn't appear to.

"Night."

And he simply watched as the girl finally went into her apartment, shutting the rusty door behind her.

And he stood there, for a very long time afterwards.

After a while, Fenrir started to move, looking down at his pale hands.

"… _A good man…"_

Fenrir's face twitched in an ugly way, and his hands balled into tight fists, his arms shaking slightly from the effort. Then he turned away, his mood lowered and his mind heavy.

" _I am not a 'good man'. I'm not a MAN at all!"_

" _But you are good person. Maybe one day, you may even be a great man."_

Fenrir massaged his temples, his head throbbing from all this internal conflict.

" _You will not tell me who you are"_ He spoke into the depths of his mind, as if hoping to see the source of that sweet, soft voice, _"Yet you constantly persist in my mind. What do you want from me?!"_

The voice fell silent once again, just agitating the Grimm further.

Until it wasn't silent.

" _I want you to be more than a Grimm."_

Fenrir froze in place. He felt a sudden twinge of fear. He had never considered the idea of being more, more than what he knew he was.

It left him feeling more uneasy than he had ever felt in his life.

Shaking his head, Fenrir decided he was done with today, he was going back to Beacon, and he would go straight to sleep.

He was quite done with surprises today.

…..

As he got closer to the airstrip, the sun now fully descended towards the horizon, turning the sky a burnt orange, Fenrir came to a realisation that made him slap himself right on the head.

" _Dammit! I never got anything for Ruby. And I just gave all my Lien to Jade, it'll be another month before I get more."_

Fenrir sighed, before shrugging his shoulders and carrying on his journey, figuring there was no point in worrying over stuff that had already happened.

" _Oh well, I'll just have to find some other way to clear my debt with Ruby. There is no time limit or anything like that, though I would still prefer to get it over with quickly."_

With his resolve to simply try something else tomorrow established, Fenrir continued his slow and steady pace back to the edge of the city.

"Hey Freak!"

THWACK!

A chunk of brick caught Fenrir right on the side of his head. The Grimm exclaimed in pain and surprise before wheeling round to face whoever had dared to hit him with the large object.

"Yeah, that's right I'm talking to you Fleabag! You going back to your den to go eat rats or something?"

The man yelling at him was small, round about Ruby's height if Fenrir had to guess, and he was glaring at Fenrir with visible hatred.

"Your kind aren't welcome here!" The man continued to shout and yell at the top of his voice, "It won't be long before you're all wiped out, put down like the rabid beasts you are."

The Grimm shook with rage. He didn't know who this guy was, but he already didn't care for him. It had already been a long and exhausting day as it is, he didn't need this moron making it worse.

But before he moved forward, he shut his eyes and took a deep breath and then walked off.

" _Remember what Ozpin said. I can't lose my temper here. Just… Just ignore it."_

Fenrir wanted to leave, he just wanted to go back to his room and sleep off this whole day.

Unfortunately, the small man had a mission to accomplish. He wasn't about to let the boy just up and leave.

"Hey! I'm talking to you monster, what you think your too good for me or something?!"

The man picked up another chunk of brick and hurled it as hard as he could at the back of Fenrir's knee. Fenrir shouted as he buckled slightly, then he looked back at the man and growled threateningly, his claws already starting to extend as his vision started to turn red with rage.

"Stop it!" He yelled.

"Oh, now you think I have to listen to what scum like you say. You're beneath me dog! I don't have to listen to anything you have to say!"

The man picked up another rock and chucked it at the now enraged Grimm. This time, Fenrir caught the stone and with little effort, crushed it in his hand until it was nothing but pebbles.

" _To Hell with this!"_ Fenrir thought darkly, _"I don't care what Ozpin says, I'm not about to let this idiot walk all over me._ _ **I NEED TO TEACH HIM A LESSON!"**_

Mind fogging over with fury, Fenrir walked towards the mousy, little man, his knuckles cracking as his fists clenched. With no warning, the man turned and ran. Fenrir could just turn around now and carry on his way. But, he didn't want to do that.

" _ **No, you don't get to just run away. GET BACK HERE PUNK!"**_

The Grimm sprinted after the man, following him into a small, cramped alleyway. Fenrir knew he was faster than this guy, but before he could even get up to full speed, the man just stopped. Fenrir looked perplexingly at this strange man who had turned to run and then just stopped. Then the man turned to face the Alpha and looked at him with an all too smug grin.

"Gotcha dog."

Before Fenrir could even question what the guy was talking about, his negativity radar suddenly spiked like crazy and Fenrir suddenly realised what had happened.

" _It's a trap! Behind you!"_ The soft voice yelled out.

But it was too late.

Another man jumped Fenrir from behind and quickly plunged a syringe into the Grimm's neck.

"GAAARRRGGHHH!"

Fenrir thrashed and flailed wildly as he felt an ice-cold liquid start to be injected into his bloodstream. Kicking himself backwards, Fenrir crashed into a brick wall hard, sending chunks of bricks flying everywhere. The man holding on to him grunted in pain, but refused to let go.

" _Gotta get out of here, now!"_

Thoughts turning desperate, Fenrir elbowed the man in the gut over and over, before throwing his head back and headbutting the man. Fenrir heard the sound of nose cartilage breaking and felt the mans grip on him loosen slightly.

"WILL SOMEONE GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME WITH THIS GUY!?"

The short man from before jumped in surprise slightly, before pulling out a syringe of his own, lunging forward and stabbing Fenrir right in the stomach.

The Grimm groaned and gasped in pain, more of this icy liquid being injected into his body. Suddenly, the Alpha's thoughts started to grow hazy and sluggish, the corners of his vision starting to turn cloudy.

" _Getting… sleepy…. Need to… get out… of here!"_

The man looked up at the leather-wearing teen, expecting him to keel over instantly, instead his eyes widened in horror as the Faunus snarled at him and drew his fist back.

"RRRRRRAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!"

Fenrir roared as he socked the small man right on the side of his head, sending him straight into the ground and eating dirt.

Stumbling forward, Fenrir reached up behind himself and grabbed the other man by his shoulders. Once he had a firm grip, he flung the other man off his back and straight into a nearby dumpster, denting the metal slightly.

"Hey ugly!"

Before Fenrir could even try to get away, a third, familiar voice called out to him. Turning to find the source, Fenrir came face to face with the barrel of a dull grey gun. The man holding the gun, had long, dirty blond hair and dark tinted sunglasses.

" _I… know… you."_

THWIP!

Hank didn't hesitate and fired a tranq dart straight into the Grimm's sternum. Fenrir stared down at the dart sticking out of his chest, and then he felt his legs start to turn really wobbly beneath him.

" _Three… darts… too… muuuuuuuchhhh…"_

Fenrir staggered forward, trying to reach toward the long-haired man, but his legs finally gave out beneath him and he fell to all fours.

"Remember me little brat!" Hank sneered as he looked down at the struggling Beowolf, "I remember you, I remember how you thought you could just throw around me and my guys and just walk away."

Hank tossed the small gun aside and produced a long wooden bat from behind himself. Fenrir furiously tried to get back to his feet, but he was slowly losing total control of his body.

With an air of casual indifference, Hank wound the bat up behind himself and swung at Fenrir's head. The Grimm's head snapped backwards, and his head lolled on his shoulders as his eyes started to droop.

"Oooo boy, words cannot tell you how much I've been waiting to do this!"

Hank swung again, catching Fenrir on the other side of his head. The pain was starting to dull in Fenrir's mind, his vision nearly all black.

" _Got….. to…."_

"And mutt!" Hank yelled, rearing back to hit the Grimm one final time, "This, is for my car!"

Hank caught Fenrir straight on the chin, sending the Grimm flying backwards and falling flat on his back.

Fenrir struggled for just a few more seconds, before letting out a long exhale and falling back, unconscious.

Silence fell over the alleyway, Hank staring down victoriously at the downed Faunus as his comrades struggled back to their feet.

"Ahh… what the hell was that guy?!" The small man cried out, peeling his face of the tarmac, "One of those syringes was enough to take down an elephant, how did he take three?"

"Who cares" Hank shouted, high on adrenaline, "We got him, now tie him up and put him with the others."

Not wanting to argue, the two men walked forward and hoisted the unconscious Alpha up by his arm pits, the man with the bloodied nose bringing out some rope from one of his pockets.

As Hank watched them work, he got a tub of red ink out from his trouser pocket and started to draw something on the nearby wall. When he was finished, he stood back to admire his handiwork.

A month ago, Hank had just been a casual Faunus hater, but then a group came to him looking to recruit him and his gang. This group, and the man in charge, shared his beliefs that the Faunus were nothing more than a mutant sub-species that needed to be destroyed for the good of Humanity.

Hank didn't consider himself a loyalist by any stretch of the imagination, but he couldn't help but feel a small swell of pride within himself as he thought about how he was now a part of something that would bring the end of the Faunus once and for all.

"Glory to the _Red Hand."_

 **A/N: Uh-oh, Fenrir's in big trouble now. So yeah, this is basically my answer to the whole Faunus discrimination thing. The Red Hand are basically the direct inverse of the White Fang and Fenrir will have to deal with them a lot throughout the coming chapters.**

 **Especially their leader.**

 **Let me know what you guys thought in your reviews and I'll see you again very soon, seriously part 2 is already on the way.**


	24. Chapter 24: A new enemy part 2

**A/N: Well here we are, part 2 of this little interlude. In this chapter you'll get to meet the man in charge of the Red Hand, along with a few other people. Important announcement at the end so don't miss it. Enjoy!**

The world was foggy when Fenrir started to slowly drift back into the land of the conscious, foggy and dark. In the distance, he could make out various voices whispering to each other, though of what he had no idea. The Grimm groaned as he became more awake, in turn becoming more aware of a dull, throbbing pain in his head.

" _What… what happened… to me?"_

Fenrir blinked a few more times as his eyesight fully restored itself, allowing him to see the dark room he was currently… standing in? It was as the Alpha started to realise there was some light filtering in, from outside of the room, he also realised he wasn't in a room exactly.

He was in a cell.

Wrought iron bars stood firmly a few feet away from him. Rock, stone and metal was all he could see around him. And the reason he was standing, his arms were chained to the walls themselves, great massive links suspended in the air and his hands being concealed by large manacles. An experimental tug showed the chains had no give to them whatsoever.

These were in good condition.

Fenrir started to grow more worried as he discovered just how much of a dire situation he was in. That and as it turned out, he wasn't just chained up in a prison cell.

" _Where's my jacket?!"_ Fenrir wondered, seeing only the dull grey of his shirt sleeves, _"And my scroll?!"_

Without his scroll, Fenrir couldn't even call his weapons to get him out of this rough situation he was in. With nothing else to do, Fenrir tried searching through his aching mind to see just how he'd got here in the first place.

" _I was… walking back to the airstrip. Then… there was a small man… then an alleyway… more men… cold liquid… That guy with the long hair."_

As Fenrir pieced together what had happened to him no less than a few hours ago, his sixth sense started to wake up. And when it did, the Alpha felt cold dread wash through his bloodstream like iced water.

 _Agony… misery… pain…_

" _Death… death has happened here. I can taste it in the air. How many people have been killed here?!"_

Fenrir's ears stretched out as he tried to listen for any sounds, any clue as to what he was up against.

What he heard didn't exactly raise his spirits.

There were several other people down the hall where he was. Some of them screaming to be let out, others quietly crying to themselves.

" _What is this place?"_ Fenrir wondered, starting to pull on the chains holding him to the walls with more vigour than before, _"I need to get out of here!"_

"Well well, look who's all eager to re-join us. You were supposed to be out all night."

Fenrir looked up in alarm as a familiar voice and the sound of grinding bars, called out from in front of him.

It was him, the man with long hair and sunglasses, Hank. He was joined by two others as they walked into Fenrir's cell, including the small, stout-looking man who'd goaded him into this whole trap to begin with.

"RRRAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

With no hesitation, Fenrir roared in rage and charged forwards, fully intent on getting revenge the slimy looking Human waste. He made it two whole steps before the sturdy chains halted him in place, leaving him furiously struggling against the hardy steel.

"Oh, poor little mutt can't get his collar off" Hank chortled, his little posse laughing along with him as they watched the Faunus struggle to get out of his bonds, "You might have been a big, bad beast out there, but in here boy you ain't nothing but a monkey in a cage!"

"WHERE AM I!"

Fenrir yelled, getting as close as he could to the older man. Hank just nodded, watching the black-and-bluenette snarl and froth at him, before reeling his fist back and socking the Grimm straight in the face.

"Gah!"

Fenrir reeled back, his chains the only thing keeping him up on his feet.

"You best get it in your head boy! You're ours now!" Hank continued, smirking vilely down at the panting wolf, "You have no power here. In less than 24 hours you'll be nothing but the worthless animal you were supposed to be. If I had the Lien to spare, I'd buy you myself just, so I could show you the meaning of pain every day."

Hank brought back his fist and punched Fenrir again. With each blow, Fenrir felt his Aura weaken and his rage increase.

" _You keep hitting me, and you're really not gonna like what comes next you fat, hairy greaseball!"_

Fenrir looked up at the cocky smirk of Hank and got his feet back under him, fully intending on making this as difficult as possible for these pathetic humans.

"When I get out of this…" Fenrir snarled.

"Oh you'll what, kill us?" the small man perked up, feeding of their ring leaders cocky bravado.

"No! I'll make you WISH you were dead!"

At this hostile statement, Hanks face twitched, and he brought a gun out from his hip and directed it under Fenrir's chin.

"Don't test me dog." Hank whispered threateningly, "keep pushing me and I'll leave you in nothing but pieces in a brown paper bag."

Fenrir felt his chest enflame with hatred as this Human rat dared to talk down to him. He'd had to put up with a lot of headaches recently, he was not about to let this one think it was better than him.

"Go right ahead!" He dared, "Because this is the only chance you'll ever get to do it!"

Hank looked like he was seriously considering just pulling the trigger, before a commanding voice echoed out from behind the angered man.

"Enough!"

The gang wheeled around to see who had spoken, and when they saw who it was they immediately backed away from the Grimm [Even Hank bowed his head down, eyes glued to the floor], allowing Fenrir to see the new figure who had appeared in his cell.

The man strode into the cell with an air of quiet confidence, his back straight and his head upright. As the man got closer, Fenrir was able to get a better look at him. He appeared to be around five or six years older than the Wolf Faunus himself, sporting a short, stubbly beard. His clothes looked expensive and appeared to be custom-made, a dark green dress shirt, dark green trousers, brown waistcoat and tie, shiny black shoes and an olive-green trench coat on top. He had short, spiked up hair that was chestnut-brown in colour, though it appeared to turn ash-grey at the tips.

The man surveyed the chained-up Alpha with a calculating eye. On closer inspection, Fenrir noted how the man's eyes were the same shade of green as his coat, and he also appeared to have an ornate, silver sword strapped to his hilt.

"So, you're the Wolf Hank was telling me so much about," The man eventually spoke again after doing a full circle round the growling Grimm, "I must admit, with the way he so vehemently talked about you I expected you to be… taller."

Fenrir felt like he was about to burst a blood vessel, he was overflowing with rage right now. What made it worse was that this man did appear to be an inch or two taller than himself.

"Where am I? What is this place?" Fenrir asked again, this time directly facing the man, already figuring from the other reactions that this was the ring-leader, not Hank.

"Ah yes, they never really did answer your questions did they?" The man actually chuckled at this, making Fenrir wonder if this was just some elaborate joke that he just wasn't in on, "I must apologise for their behaviour, they can get rather high-spirited with this kind of job."

The man took a step backward and gestured to himself and then to the room around them.

"I am Grar Grendelson. And this, is the main headquarters of the "Red Hand", we're not as well-known as those… savages the "White Fang", but we do hope that one day we will reach a level of power and influence that far exceeds even theirs."

" _There's that White Fang I keep hearing about. Just who are they?"_ Fenrir wondered as Grendel continued his spiel.

"You, my fortunate friend, have just been rescued" Fenrir quirked an eyebrow in a dumbfounded expression, finding it hard to believe that he of all people needed rescuing.

"Saved from your miserable previous life. Myself, and my associates have made it our mission to bring the Faunus back to their rightful place in this world of ours. We take poor, downtrodden Faunus like yourself, off of the streets and gutters we find them in, and transport them to a better life. A life where all the hard decisions have been made for you, so you no longer have to worry about them, and all you have to do is… do whatever your new benefactor asks of you."

This guy used a lot of honeyed words, but Fenrir was able to use his sixth sense and general common sense to sift through the guff and get to the real meaning of Grendel's speech.

"I think I understand" Fenrir whispered sinisterly, keeping his eyes hidden from view.

"I'm glad to hear that" Grendel smiled.

"You kidnap Faunus and sell them off as slaves!" Fenrir yelled, his face twisted as he bared all of his teeth at the sharp-suited man.

"How dare you speak to the boss like that!" The smaller man suddenly screamed furiously.

"It's alright" Grendel said calmly, smile still present on his face, "If that's what he wants to call it, it would be unfair of us to take that away from him."

If the Beowolf had been angry before, it was nothing to how he felt now. Black, searing fires raged inside his core as he longed to be free of these chains and tear Grendel and his lackeys limb from limb.

The Grimm had been slaves once, tools, playthings of a being that didn't care for them. They'd sworn to never allow themselves to be slaves again.

"I… Will not… be a slave for anyone!" Fenrir roared.

Grendel just continued to chuckle, driving Fenrir even closer to a berserker rage.

"I'm afraid Mr… Lupus was it? That you really don't have a choice in the matter. It is the sacred duty of all who serve under the "Red Hand's" banner to restore balance to Remnant, by bringing the Faunus back under the heel of the Human race, the rightful masters of this world."

" _That is not your job!"_ Fenrir's mind screamed, _**"Restore balance…That's OUR JOB! IT'S ALWAYS BEEN OUR JOB!.!.!"**_

"So, you just get some sleep young wolf" Grendel continued, seemingly oblivious to Fenrir's inner tirade, "Tomorrow, your new life begins. Come with me boys, we need to start putting together a list of potential buyers… this one shows promise."

The rest of the group groaned quietly as they realised their fun had been cut short, before following after their leader, Fenrir glaring holes into each of the backs of their heads as they left. Hank was the last to leave and he turned to face the Alpha.

"Have fun with your new life… Mutt!" Hank said in a slimy voice before sauntering away, slamming the cell door shut behind him.

Fenrir listened to the gangs retreating footsteps, hearing one of them yell at a crying Faunus down the hall, telling them to shut up before they made them. When Fenrir could no longer hear their feet stepping on the concrete, he started frantically pulling with all his might at the heavy-duty chains. He yanked, he tugged, but no matter how much he strained with all his might, the chains would not budge.

" _Got to keep trying!"_ Fenrir yelled in his mind, _"I will not be a servant for a HUMAN. Bad enough I have to pretend to be a student in a school full of them."_

But it was no good. These chains had been stolen from a cargo train, designed to hold captured Grimm the size of an Ursa.

It would take a miracle to get Fenrir out of this dire emergency.

….

The Red Hand was a group that had become skilled at making their actions sound far nobler than they actually were. An easy way to spot this, was the fact that the Faunus they kidnapped weren't always… fully grown.

One such example was a young boy named Phthalo Hrothgar.

The boy had just been playing on the streets when he'd been abducted by a group of men in hoods and wearing strange red masks. For about three days now, he'd been kept locked up in a dark, damp and cold cell, with no idea where he was or why he'd even been taken in the first place.

At first he'd been so scared he hadn't even moved from his spot when the men had roughly chucked him into the small space. He'd silently begged, prayed that his parents would come find him, that they would take him away from this horrible nightmare.

But it was clear now that the young boy would not be so lucky.

Another night had descended on the dimly lit hallway, at least Phthalo assumed it was night time, it had become very difficult to tell. In the distance, the boy could make out the commanding voice of the masked men's leader, Grendel. He was talking to one of the new prisoners, the boy had seen the small man and the man with long hair drag him in. From what he could make out, the new prisoner was very loud… and very angry.

Not long after, the conversation ended and Phthalo heard the clacking of shoes start to get closer and closer to his cell. The boy bowed his head down, holding his breath and silently hoping that the group would just pass him by without a second thought.

Sillohuetes started to drift pass on the floor and Phthalo hugged his legs tight to his body.

" _Please, please just keep walking."_

The sillohuetes stopped.

"This one," Grendel remarked, his cold voice cleaving through the silence as the young boy started to shake with fear, "This one is starting to look thin, have you even been feeding him?"

Daring to look up, Phthalo saw that Grendel was speaking to the long-haired Human, who appeared frustrated and slightly afraid that he'd been caught out.

"I bring the stupid animals here!" Hank seethed, "I'm not their goddamn keeper."

Grendel just continued to stare through the other man, causing the rest of the group to start to back away from their colleague.

"The buyers will not purchase damaged or unhealthy goods now will they" Grendel said evenly, "We need all the Lien we can get if we want to move forward with phase 2 of our mission."

"So why don't we just rob a bank!" Hank retorted, his impatience starting to get to him, "I am tired of waiting, we should take those Faunus freaks out now! I want to HHRRRRKKK!"

Hank didn't get to finish what he said as one of Grendel's arms shot forward and Hank suddenly found himself suspended in the air by his neck. The long-haired man struggled to free himself, but Grendel's grip was iron.

The rest of the group looked away as their leader asserted himself, the smallest man even muttering "Damn idiot." As Hank continued to flail in the air, Grendel staring up at him with a bored expression.

"Be mindful of your tone Hank" Grendel said firmly, "There are too few of us right now. We need to remain under the radar, until the time is right to make our presence known to the world. Until that day, this is what we must do to build up our powerbase, I suggest you remember that, because if I feel that you are going to be a nuisance to my goals, I will cast you aside and leave you back in the hovel I found you in."

With that, Grendel released his subordinate who promptly fell to the floor, gasping for air. The others did not rush forward to help him up.

"Feed the prisoners. I don't care with what, so long as it's edible."

The chestnut-haired man walked off, his point made, his olive-green coat billowing behind him. Hank coughed and slowly rose back to his feet. Phthalo had been watching the whole thing with wide, fearful eyes, and unfortunately Hank saw that the small boy had been watching the whole thing.

"What are you looking at huh?!"

Rushing forward, Hank snatched a metal bat from one of his colleagues and started hitting the bars of the boys cell.

"DON'T… YOU… THINK… YOU… CAN… LOOK DOWN… ON… ME!"

Phthalo screamed and cowered on the back wall, his hands clasping his ears as the metallic ringing echoed throughout the whole hallway.

"You even think about laughing about me," Hank sneered, nearly pressing his face in-between the bars as he glared down at the terrified child, "And I'll shatter your freaking skull and dump your body on your parents doorstep! You don't ever get to look down on me you filthy half-breed!"

Spitting off to the side, Hank threw the now dented bat back to the person he'd snatched it from, then stalked off with his head jutted forward.

"Come on! Let's go to the pet-store or something. We'll buy the animals some pellets to gnaw on."

Phthalo didn't even think of moving until the group of men had completely disappeared from sight, even then he waited a solid five minutes until he was absolutely sure they were gone.

The boy had to really fight the urge to cry. This was a nightmare, a horrible nightmare that he simply could not wake up from.

" _I have to get out of here."_ Phthalo thought as his eyes frantically darted around the cell, searching for any possible means of escape.

After a while, Phthalo finally turned to look at the cell bars, and noticed that they looked a bit different.

It seemed Hank had hit them with such brute force and blind anger, he'd actually bent the bars in somewhat. Taking a closer look, Phthalo discovered that two of the bars had been bent away from each other, creating a very small gap in the middle.

The gap was too small for a full-grown person to fit through. Fortunately, the boy was small and thin due to not eating for the past few days. Slowly, Phthalo started to carefully squeeze himself through the small gap. It was a tight fit, but finally, after an agonisingly long time, Phthalo popped out the other side.

He was out of his cell.

The boys senses were now on high alert as he listened for even the slightest sound in the dark hallway. Phthalo started to gingerly tip-toe down the hallway, searching for a way out of this hellish place.

As he walked along though, sticking to the darkest shadows possible, Phthalo started to look into the other cells that were all full of several different types of Faunus.

Men, women, even other children were all quietly hiding, sniffling or cradling one another. Hopelessness hung over the whole area like a suffocating blanket.

Phthalo started to hesitate.

" _I can't just leave them here. I've got to get them all out of here, but how?"_

The boy was not a fighter, he didn't even know the way out of this place, if he was caught he'd either be chucked back into his cell… or worse.

Phthalo suddenly recalled the new prisoner who's passed by his cell a few hours ago. He didn't get a good look at the man, but he did see that the man was large and very well-built.

" _He sounded really angry when he woke up too."_ The boy remembered as turned down another corridor, searching now for one specific cell, _"If I get him out, maybe he can help me get the others free too."_

It wasn't much of a plan, but he didn't really have time to come up with something complex.

After some searching, Phthalo found the cell he was looking for. There, in the middle of the room, chained up to the walls was the man he was looking for. Getting a better look at him now, Phthalo saw a pair of lupine ears sitting on top of his neck-length black and blue hair, and a thick, black, bushy tail swishing lazily behind him. He looked like some kind of dog Faunus if Phthalo had to guess and just as he'd hoped, the man was big and strong-looking, a lithe, muscular body easily visible underneath a grey sweatshirt and dark blue jeans.

Looking at the door to the man's cell, Phthalo smiled for the first time in days as he saw that luck had been kind to him for once. The men had left the cell key still in the keyhole.

" _Must have thought the guy couldn't ever get out of his chains, so they didn't bother locking his door."_

Doing a quick look behind his shoulder to make sure no one was going to just suddenly appear round the corner, Phthalo licked his dry lips and started to slowly turn the key in its hole.

The very instant he did so, the man's ears twitched towards the source of the noise and then his head shot up and he looked the startled child dead in the eye.

…

" _A… a child? What is a child doing here?"_

Fenrir stared in confusion at the small, thin boy looking at him fearfully behind the bars of his cell door. The boy had sky blue hair and bright yellow eyes that appeared to be a bit puffy around the eyelids.

"Uuuhhmm… Hi?" The boy whispered, trying his best to smile despite the fact that he was shaking in his shoes.

"… Hello." Fenrir eventually said, the scenario so mind numbing to him he couldn't think of anything else to say.

Fenrir's greeting was apparently taken as a sign that he wasn't a danger, because the boy then opened the door fully, pulled the keys out the lock and walked up to the chained Alpha.

"It's okay," The boy said, looking up into the dark blue eyes of the wolf, "I'm rescuing you."

" _That's the second time someone told me I'm being rescued today"_ Fenrir thought as he huffed at the boy.

"But you've got to help me with something in return." The boy whispered conspiratorially, "I need your help to get everyone else out of here. They're all in cells and…"

"Kid" Fenrir cut him off sharply, "You let me out of these chains, I'm going after those Red Hand idiots and you'll need to stay the hell out of my way!"

"But what about…" Phthalo was about to persist that Fenrir help him with the other Faunus, but the Beowolf was in a frenzy.

"I don't have time to worry about some Faunus in cages" He snapped, volume levels dangerously close to yelling, "It doesn't matter to me. All I care about is getting out of here and teaching those creeps a lesson. You want to save the others so bad, you do it!"

Phthalo backed off a bit, stunned at the pure vitriol emanating from this stranger.

" _I've never seen anyone look so… angry."_

"Now let me out." Fenrir shook the chains slightly to emphasise his point.

Numbly, Phthalo walked up to the chains and started fumbling through the keyring to find the one that would open the locks on Fenrir's arms. It took a few moments of trial and error, but eventually the boy got the right key in and soon had both manacles off of the Grimm's arms.

Fenrir massaged his wrists as the blood started properly flowing to his hands. After making sure everything was working as it should be, Fenrir nodded and strode out of the cell without even a second glance at the boy who had freed him.

"Please" The boy said, freezing Fenrir in the doorway, "All those people, the bad men will sell them off and they'll never see their families again. Please help me."

Fenrir wanted to deny the boy, he was done with today, well and truly done. He just wanted to smash some faces in and then go back to Beacon. But then his sixth sense started to kick off again and he was reminded of just how many people were trapped down here.

He could feel their misery, their pain.

" _Are you sure you don't care? Or do you simply not wish to give yourself the chance to care"_ The soft voice called out inside his mind.

Fenrir shut his eyes and sighed, feeling slightly aggravated. Today, he had seen just how badly the Faunus were treated, just because of physical differences. Here, seeing the absolute worst that humanity could do to them, it reminded him just how unfair it all was.

" _I don't know if I can do anything to change the Humans views on these people… but I cannot just simply stand by and allow them to do this. I… have to put a stop to this."_

Looking back at the silently hopeful boy, Fenrir felt the need to ask a question before he resigned himself to his next decision.

"Why do you care so much? You don't know these people, so why risk your freedom to help them?"

The boy seemed to ponder the question for a moment, before addressing the waiting Grimm.

"Well for one, a few minutes ago I was a prisoner just like them, didn't really like it all that much."

To demonstrate his point, Phthalo revealed his extra features to the Alpha, in the form of a pair of bright blue wings unfurling from his back.

" _He's a bird Faunus. From the looks of the plumage, a Bluebird."_

"And well… it's the right thing to do isn't it. My mom and dad always tell me to help people, even if you don't know them."

Fenrir stared down at this odd child. Something about what he'd said, it resonated weirdly with the Grimm. He suspected it had something to do with Ruby's Aura having an influence on him, but he wasn't fully sure.

"What is your name, child."

"Phthalo Hrothgar." The boy proclaimed proudly, but then he noticed the wolf boys face twist into something that just said, "How do I even pronounce that?", so he decided to make it easier for the older man.

"But most people just call me Theo because it's easier to say."

Fenrir nodded, already deciding on calling the child Theo instead of… whatever his actual name was.

"Alright… Theo, I'll help you free the others," Fenrir crouched down, looking the now excited child on an equal level, "But first, we're going to have to get some items of mine. So stay behind me, stay hidden and if I tell you to run, you run. Understand?"

Theo nodded slowly after a while, feeling slightly apprehensive once it set in that they were actually doing this.

Seeing the confirmation, Fenrir got back to his full height, walked back to the cell door, took a cursory look around the place, then gestured for Theo to follow him.

One fearful yet earnest, the other angry but determined, the two unlikely partners began their slow and quiet walk through the Faunus prison.

….

It turns out, the place the Bird and the Wolf had been held was actually the basement of an enormous warehouse. Taking a look around after ascending a flight of stairs cautiously, Fenrir deduced that this warehouse had been abandoned for some time, likely cleared out by the Red Hand themselves. On a wall nearby, Fenrir could make out a faded logo of a building done in white paint, with the words "Heorot shipping co." written in bold lettering underneath.

An assortment of cages, in various sizes, were littered around the place. Some of them confused Fenrir as they appeared to just be see-through boxes full of water.

"What on…"

"Those must be how they keep any fish-Faunus locked up." Phthalo answered the Grimm's unspoken question.

"There are fish-Faunus?" Fenrir questioned.

"Yeah, you never met any?" Phthalo asked.

"No… no I haven't. I don't get out much."

Putting that new information of aquatic Faunus existing aside for later musing, Fenrir walked through the deafeningly silent building, searching for what he hoped the Red Hand thugs hadn't just gotten rid of.

After what felt like an eternity of the two just holding their breath around every dingy corner, the pair eventually came across a table standing in the middle of an open space. On the table, an assortment of items and clothing were haphazardly chucked on top of the hard surface.

"Hey! That looks like my hoodie." Phthalo said as he spotted a small blue jumper splayed out on top of a small pile of clothes.

"Stay behind me Theo!" Fenrir hissed as he quickly shot his hand forward to pull Phthalo back towards him after the child tried to run ahead of him.

His furry ears on a swivel as he tried to find even the slightest sound in the room, Fenrir cautiously walked forwards to the table, Phthalo sticking close to just behind his leg.

Once the two arrived at the table, Phthalo grabbed his hoodie and Fenrir started looking for his items. There were wallets, scrolls even pieces of jewellery scattered across the table. Fenrir guessed that all these objects belonged to the Faunus that the Red Hand kidnapped.

Sifting through the assortment of stuff, the Alpha eventually found his Scroll and wasted no time in opening the thing and searching for the locker app.

" _Oh, this must be how that Grendel guy figured out my name, they looked through my scroll. Hope that's all they found, otherwise I'm in a lot of trouble."_

Unbeknownst to the Grimm, Theo was looking over the larger man's shoulder and realised that the scroll Fenrir was using looked familiar. Especially when he saw the small locker icon that Fenrir tapped.

"Ooooooh, are you a Huntsman?" The boy asked excitedly, his wings fanning up behind him.

"No, I'm not." Fenrir stated bluntly.

Quickly hammering in the lockers six-digit code, Fenrir's scroll chimed to indicate that the locker was now on its way to his location.

" _Hope this works."_ Fenrir thought anxiously as he closed the Scroll shut.

…..

"C'mon sweetie, you've had a long day, let's get you to bed."

Ruby cooed like a new mother as she cradled her beloved sniper/scythe delicately into its locker. She'd spent the majority of the day training with Crescent rose, keeping her skills sharp and fresh even during what was supposed to be her day off.

Academically, she'd much rather be anywhere else but combat wise, she was right at home in Beacon academy.

As she was putting her weapon away for the day, Pyrrha strode into the locker room with a stormy expression on her face. Spinning on her heel, Ruby caught sight of the spartan girl and greeted her energetically.

"Pyrrha! Hi, how you doing?"

"Oh, hello Ruby. I'm fine." Pyrrha said automatically, not even meeting the smaller girls eyes.

"Hey, you sure you're all right Pyr?" Ruby asked, concern in her silver eyes as she immediately caught on to the taller red-heads dour expression.

Pyrrha really didn't want to trouble the young leader with her worries, but she had just caught sight of Jaune wandering off to who knows where when she was walking to the locker room, and it had painfully reminded her of the two's big argument on the rooftop a week ago. Ever since then, Jaune had become increasingly distant from the rest of his team and while she was a little angry with him about this, she also couldn't help but blame herself slightly as it was her idea that sparked this whole sequence of events.

"Ummm, well actually Ruby, there is something…"

Pyrrha was about to confide in Ruby about her Jaune troubles, when all of a sudden a dull, whirring sound started to emanate from within the locker room. Looking towards the source of the interruption, Ruby discovered that one of the lockers had just spontaneously activated and was starting to shake and shudder in place.

Then, with a burst of blue fire, the locker shot up from the floor and out through the ceiling. Dashing to the window, Ruby watched as the giant slab of metal flew through the air.

" _It's heading out of Beacon. Where's it going?"_

"Whose locker was that?" Pyrrha asked from behind Ruby, looking up at the flying locker also.

Looking at the row of lockers in front of her, Ruby scanned the numbers on the doors until she found the missing one. When she found it, her posture tensed with a sudden surge of worry as she realised she knew which locker that had just taken flight, and who it belonged to.

After all, it was the locker right next to Weiss's.

"It was Fenrir's!"

Ruby and Pyrrha weren't the only ones to spot the runaway Locker however, as a pair of brown eyes followed the flying object through the sky. Ozpin stood on his office balcony, already calling for a bullhead to take him into Vale, and a deep frown on his face.

" _What have you gotten yourself into now Mr Lupus?"_

…

" _Well Ozpin, you said to only call in my weapons if it was an emergency. Given the situation, yeah, I'd say this qualifies as an emergency."_

Fenrir waited impatiently for his locker to arrive, looking up at the ceiling occasionally as if expecting it to just crash through the roof.

Whilst he waited, he searched the table for another item of his. When he couldn't find it, he bristled in anger and started imagining himself gleefully tearing Grendel and his minions to pieces.

"It isn't here." He growled.

"What isn't here?" Phthalo asked, keeping a lookout in case any Red Hand members showed up.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter."

Less than a few seconds later, a building, zooming noise started to be picked up by the two Faunus. Looking back up to the ceiling, the two backed up as a metal locker all of a sudden crashed through roof and landed directly in front of Fenrir.

"Coooool." Phthalo whistled as Fenrir tried to suppress a grin of his own.

" _Lets level the playing field."_

Stepping forward, Fenrir input the code into the door and grabbed the heavy black Gauntlets inside. Keeping a watchful ear out, fully expecting people to have heard the locker crash through the building and come to their location, Fenrir quickly strapped the Gauntlets to his arms.

"Umm, are those… Grimm masks?" Phthalo asked, looking at the sides of Fenrir's weapons worriedly.

"…I like the look." Fenrir explained.

Once the gauntlets were secured, Fenrir turned to the small boy and nodded.

"Now, we can release the others."

"What are we standing around here for then?" Phthalo said, grinning widely.

Fenrir was about to agree, when all of a sudden a tiny alarm bell started to ring in the back of his head, causing him to look at the far wall of the warehouse.

When he saw what had caused his sixth sense to start going off, his eyes widened, and his heart felt like it had just stopped.

" _Hank!"_

"MOVE KID!"

Fenrir launched himself forward and grabbed the confused boy by the collar, chucking him far away from where they were standing.

Just in time for Hank to shoot him in the back. And this time, it wasn't a tranq dart.

"AAAHHH!"

Fenrir yelled as his Aura absorbed the blow but not the pain. Not even given a second to breathe, the Grimm felt a chain wrap around his neck and squeeze tightly. All around him, figures in red masks suddenly appeared out of the shadows, each one brandishing simple, crude weapons.

The Alpha looked down at Phthalo still laying back on the floor. Frantically, Fenrir grabbed his scroll and hurled it far away to the other side of the room, before being yanked back by the chain whip.

"Fenrir!" Phthalo screamed, panic causing him to start breathing rapidly.

"GO! RRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHRRRRR RUN!"

Phthalo's wings sprang out and the boy used them to fling himself backwards, narrowly avoiding a lunge from a nearby Red Hand grunt.

Fenrir tore the chain off his neck, sending links flying everywhere. Before he could turn around and retaliate, Hank was on him again to club him with the butt of his pistol. Dazed, Fenrir was tackled to the floor just to have six more figures pin him to the ground, holding him in place.

"Somebody grab that kid, he's getting away!" Hank yelled at anyone who was listening.

With just one free limb, Fenrir stuck his leg out and tripped up one of the masked men, sending him flat on his face and buying Phthalo just a bit more time.

" _Run kid, get out of here!"_

Hank growled in annoyance before turning to look down at the struggling Beowolf.

"You've got some nerve dog. It's irritating!"

Hank shoved his boot into Fenrir's face and ground his heel into the Grimm.

His vision limited, Fenrir looked around the room. At least two dozen masked men, some attempting to chase after the blue-haired boy, others keeping their weapons at the ready in case Fenrir overpowered the ones holding him down. Then of course there was Hank and the smaller man who was weirdly not wearing a mask.

What he was wearing however, caused Fenrir to nearly break free as he roared in rage.

" _THAT'S MY JACKET!"_

The big, bulky piece of leather was far too big on the short man, the sleeves rolled up twice over. No matter how much he struggled though, Fenrir could not break free, not even when the men started to strap him down to a metal stretcher.

Once Fenrir was restrained, the figures stepped back, panting heavily from exertion. Hank continued to smile smugly down at the thrashing Alpha. Then, from out of the shadows, Grendel came striding casually towards the Wolf, a hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

"Well, I must admit, I'm almost impressed," Grendel said with a bemused glint in his eye, "Those chains were built to hold Grimm three times your size, however did you break free?"

"There was a feathered brat with him sir," Hank spat, looking off to the side, "He must have broken the fleabag out."

Grendel simply hummed and looked off to where he had last seen the boy fly off. Eventually, the Red Hand members who had chased after Phthalo returned, empty handed.

"The boy got out through the doors, we couldn't find him."

"Well… that's unfortunate." Grendel sighed.

Fenrir meanwhile, sighed in relief.

" _He got away. Well, at least one of us got free."_

Grendel looked down at the recaptured Grimm and gave a disappointed frown, stroking at his beard spike slowly.

"Why is it always the same with you Faunus? Can't you see what I'm doing?" He asked earnestly, "I'm giving you the chance to have a better life, a happier life. I'm simply restoring your race to where they're supposed to be, why do you see that as a bad thing?"

Fenrir snarled, even now refusing to show even the slightest shred of compliance to this deranged fanatic.

"The life of a slave is one I'll never accept. Call it what you want, I won't even call it life. So don't waste your breath on me, especially when your life is already a waste!"

The nearby goons were aghast at the sheer nerve of this **creature** daring to speak out to their leader in such a way. Grendel's face twitched slightly, and Fenrir got a small drop of satisfaction when he felt the man's annoyance slightly rise, but then the green-eyed man shook his head and chuckled in a hollow manner.

"Well that is a shame then." He remarked, "If I cannot convince you that what we are doing is right, then I'm afraid we simply cannot help you. In that case, we shall simply have to dispose of you. Open that tank."

Dutifully, a group of masked men hauled one of the aquatic Faunus containers, filled to the brim with water, over to their leader. With a nod of his head, another group detached the stretcher from its stand and prepared to simply slide Fenrir into the awaiting tanker.

" _They're going to drown me!"_ Fenrir thought as he redoubled his efforts to escape his restraints.

"Goodbye, Mr Lupus." Grendel said coldly.

"Good riddance mutt!" Hank sneered as he shoved his colleagues out of the way and threw Fenrir in himself.

The moment the wolf was submerged, the Red Hand members closed the lid and stepped back, watching as Fenrir fruitlessly struggled to escape his end.

Fenrir felt his lungs beg for air as he thrashed and strained. All around him, shadowy figures cruelly watched as his life slowly started to fade away, his chest becoming flooded with water.

" _No… not like this… this can't be it."_

… _._

Phthalo clasped his hands around his mouth, watching in terror as his friend slowly started to drown. He desperately wanted to go out and help, but there were too many men, he'd be taken down before he could get close.

Phthalo had opened a door earlier to make it look like he'd left the building, when really he'd just circled round and hidden under a pile of crates in the corner of the warehouse. He'd been serious about freeing the other Faunus, he couldn't just run away.

But when he'd seen Fenrir just get coldly thrown into a tank full of water, he'd felt his heart rise up into his throat.

" _He's dying. What do I do, I don't know what to do!"_

The midnight-haired man's head took that moment to turn a half-lidded gaze towards where Phthalo was hiding. The two locked eyes, and Fenrir's eyes shot open as he realised just who he was looking at.

The boy didn't say anything, but in that moment, his mind screamed out to the Wolf Faunus.

" _Come on, get out of there! You can beat them, COME ON FENRIR!"_

…

" _WHAT THE HELL! WHY IS THEO STILL HERE?!"_

Fenrir was in full panic-mode when he spotted the young bird Faunus hiding behind a pile of crates. If one of those Red Hand thugs so much as turned around, they'd spot Theo easily.

"What do we do about the brat boss?" Hank asked his leader, unaware that a certain Beowolf could still hear him.

"We can't risk him revealing our operation, it's too early in the game, too soon to show ourselves to the world" Grendel spoke solemnly, "Form a hunting party, track him down… and if he's anything like the Wolf, then he'll no doubt be just as problematic and tiresome, meaning rehabilitating him will be impossible. When you find him… kill him. With that, all loose ends will be effectively tied up."

"… _Kill…Him?"_

Fenrir didn't know if it was because his mind was currently water-logged, but he almost couldn't process what he'd just heard.

But when he did, he felt his blood reach scorching levels as his rage exploded within him.

" _They'd just kill a child?! These people… they're MONSTERS!"_

" _Which is why you need to get out of here. Fight back, stop them."_

In the depths of his sub-conscious, the soft voice took on a commanding edge, further pushing the Grimm to struggle with all his might.

"You have your orders Hank, take your men and… what is it?"

Grendel quirked an eyebrow as he realised his subordinate wasn't even looking at him. Instead, the long-haired man was gazing with steadily rising alarm at the glass tank with the very much alive Alpha inside.

"Uhhh… sir?" The small man asked worriedly as soon everyone's attention was on the writhing body of the wolf Faunus, a torrent of bubbles shooting from his mouth as he roared in fury.

"I think he heard you." Hank said quietly, cocking his pistol as he watched on in morbid fascination.

SSSHHNNNKK!

Fenrir pressed the pads on his gauntlets, causing eight, gleaming silver blades to spring out from his knuckles. With every last fibre of his being, Fenrir pulled and heaved until finally, one of the straps around his wrist broke. Quickly, Fenrir brought the blades on his left arm around and sliced at the restraints on his other arm and legs. The Svartalfarmium cut through the straps effortlessly.

With that done, Fenrir launched himself upwards, blasting the lid of the tank way up until it hit the ceiling and sending water flying everywhere.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir's roar shook the whole building, water cascading down his body as he shook with inhuman hatred. His eyes locked on Grendel who just looked mildly surprised. Hank reacted instantly and fired a bullet from his gun, aimed at the centre of Fenrir's forehead.

Fenrir's head lurched backwards as the dust round ricochet off of his Aura. Then his head snapped right back to where it was, a dark blue glow shimmering around his head as it absorbed the blow from the bullet.

"Grrrrggghhh!" Fenrir growled lowly as his eyes burned with molten hatred, almost piercing through Hank's entire being. Several Red Hand members backed up apprehensively, feeling a change in the air as this… _animal_ glared down at them.

There was something very off about this Faunus. Something dark.

"Okayyyy" Grendel drawled, looking more perplexed than anything else, before turning to his minions and spoke in a patronising tone, "Get him."

Before any of the Red Hand thugs could get their minds in gear, Fenrir leapt out of the tank, reached behind himself, grabbed the tank, and flung it at Grendel's head.

The green-suited man casually ducked under the flying tub of water, but his subordinates were not so lucky. The short man in particular, caught the full blast of the flying object and was knocked out cold from the impact, some of his teeth knocked straight out of his jaw as he slumped to the floor.

"Oh, you're dead now mutt!" Hank mocked, spinning his pistol as he walked towards the enraged beast, "This ain't gonna be like last time, I'm ready for ya…!"

THWACK!

With ice cold disdain, Fenrir casually socked Hank in the jaw, blades still extended as they easily tore through the mans dismal Aura and left shallow cuts on his cheek. Hank swayed a little, before crumpling like a stack of cards in a gale.

Finally, the other members came back to life and tried to swarm the Beowolf. Fenrir bowed his head and grinned evilly as his blades hummed at the prospect of battle.

" _Like lambs to a_ _ **Slaughter!"**_

One thug jumped into the air and tried to jab Fenrir with his spear, which the Grimm casually blocked, sparks flying from his blades. Bringing his other arm behind him, Fenrir struck the handle of the spear. The metal shattered the crude handle, sending scraps of metal flying everywhere. The man gaped from underneath his mask as his weapon was effortlessly destroyed, but he didn't do much else after that as Fenrir followed up with a lethal uppercut, the blades once again tearing through Aura as they sent the goon spinning through the air.

Until Fenrir caught the goon by his foot and flung him at another would-be attacker, sending both masked figures tumbling to the floor.

Spinning in place, Fenrir lunged a foot out and kicked another masked man right in the gut, all while blocking an axe head from another attacker. Locking the axe in place, Fenrir brought an arm up and just like with the spear, used his blades to easily shatter the thugs weapon into pieces.

" _Oh, these Gauntlets are definitely earning their keep."_ Fenrir was practically giddy as he could taste the fear start to rise in the building.

Fenrir punched the man in the face over and over until his Aura broke, then he crouched down and impaled the mans right shin with his blades, blood gushing from the now shattered kneecap. The man shrieked in pain before being sent pinwheeling through the air as Fenrir rose back up and yanked the man's leg up harshly.

Turning on his heel, Fenrir batted another piece of cannon-fodders weapon away and then grabbed the figure by his mask and lifted him into the air. Fenrir put so much pressure on the mask, it actually started to crack and splinter, the Human underneath flailing as he cried in agony.

" _ **Pathetic. Worthless little maggot!"**_

Fenrir was briefly taken out of his good mood as one Red Hand member got lucky and clubbed him round the back of the head with a bat. Fenrir staggered forward slightly, before turning to stare at whoever had just hit him.

The Wolf Demons snarl transitioned into a vile looking smirk as he adjusted his grip on the other mans face, then grabbed the attacker by the back of his hood, then brought the two together in a non-consensual headbutt that sent both of them falling to the floor.

As more Red Hand grunts came sprinting towards him, Fenrir kicked one of the unconscious bodies up off the floor, then booted the body towards the new wave of attackers, catching the ones at the front off-guard.

Giving Fenrir plenty of time to run backwards, latch onto a nearby shelving unit, then launch himself off of it, blades fully extended in front of him.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir caught two unsuspecting thugs with his flying lunge. His blades bounced off the two's auras, sending all three of them tumbling to the floor. Fenrir recovered instantly, driving his fists into both of their heads, knocking them both out and shattering the ground beneath them.

Fenrir wasn't even half-way done, there were more bugs to crush.

Phthalo watched on in awe and slight excitement as Fenrir ruthlessly cleaved through the Red Hand. The wolf's blades sang and shone as they flew through the air, breaking weapons like they were mist, and cleaving through the men's auras in record time. Fenrir wasn't just using his gauntlets either, at one point he picked up a big, metal box and swung it round himself like a club, catching several grunts across the heads, even completely eviscerating one of their masks, red chips flying all over the place.

" _He's definitely a Huntsman. Only they could do stuff as cool as this."_

As he watched Fenrir fiercely battle on, Phthalo soon caught sight of a small, flat, grey square lying face down on the floor next to him.

" _Wait a minute… Isn't that…"_

It was Fenrir's scroll. At first, the boy had wondered just why the older man had flung his scroll so far away from himself, but now that he had, the young Bird Faunus came up with an idea.

One that would hopefully help his friend if things suddenly went pear-shaped.

" _I can't fight, but I can do this."_

Grendel meanwhile, also simply observed as this black and blue haired Faunus took down his men with reckless abandon, weapon fragments, blood, even whole unconscious bodies were sent sailing through the air, one such body crashing into a stack of crates and sending the whole thing crashing to the floor. He had dealt with Huntsmen and Huntresses before, he'd seen up close how they fought.

This boy did not have the same level of skill as they did, not even close. But he certainly had his own brand of savage might that Grendel had only ever seen in wild, rabid Grimm Beasts.

Fenrir's lack of actual combat skill became apparent when a Red Hand member who had been hanging back from the rest of the group, started firing at the Grimm's back with his machine gun. Fenrir snarled as his aura did its best to cushion the blows. Looking at the new offender, Fenrir pressed a finger to the pad at the base of his hands, causing his revolvers to come out of their compartments on his forearms.

Fenrir brought his arms up in front of him, and pressed the pads on his hands over and over again.

The revolvers boomed as they fired shot after shot… and not one of them found their mark.

Bright flashes lit up the room as the Dust rounds merely bounced off the wall behind his actual target.

" _Ah, right…"_ Fenrir thought dumbly, _"I have no idea how to aim."_

Fenrir promptly paid for his lapse in attention when a masked figure cracked him across the face with a knuckle duster. This was then followed up when another Red Hand member grabbed him by the shoulders and head-butted him.

Fenrir blinked, then inhaled and reciprocated. Though the Beowolf's head-butt was much more brutal as it floored the other man. Turning back to face the one with knuckle-dusters, Fenrir lifted him up by his neck, then brought him about to use him as a shield as he sprinted towards the far away minion with the rifle.

There was no grace to be found here, no skill in what the Grimm was doing. All he cared about was winning.

As soon as the knuckle-duster man was back on his feet, Fenrir relentlessly beat him to a pulp. Once the aura was broken through, Fenrir grabbed one of the mans arms, and shoved his blades straight through the elbow joint.

" _ **How long has it been… since I last saw human bone marrow?"**_

Fenrir's mind was growing insidious as he heard the man shriek, and he loved it. He could feel it in his very being, this is where he was meant to be, what he was meant to do.

Taking out these human scraps.

Panicked and dazed, the goon with the rifle clumsily got back to his feet and tried to aim his gun at the monster. Fenrir just brought his other gauntlet round in an arc and shredded the gun into four separate bits.

Whilst the battle raged on, Grendel let out a puff of air as he realised his men were steadily being whittled down.

" _It seems that this will be a matter that I'll have to deal with personally. How tiresome."_

With a graceful elegance, Grendel unsheathed his intricately crafted sword from its hilt. Bringing it about in front of himself, he shut his eyes and whispered softly to himself.

"Hrunting… find this beasts heart."

Meanwhile, Fenrir was just mopping up the last few Red Hand thugs still standing. He'd taken a few hits here and there, but as far as he could tell, his aura was still holding strong. Turning to the last standing goon, Fenrir decided to let his sadistic side have a bit of fun and casually walked towards the terrified grunt.

With a frenzied yell, the man swung his weapon at the Alpha's head, so sloppy it was that Fenrir effortlessly blocked the strike… and then waited for the fool to try again.

Over and over, the man tried to hit Fenrir, with no success. Eventually, the mans constitution broke apart and he knelt on the floor breathing heavily. The Grimm looked down at the beaten Human and let out a low, feral growl.

"Pathetic."

Fenrir ended the mans suffering with a blisteringly fierce right hook, so vicious that the mans head bounced of the concrete floor before slumping back unconscious.

With that done, Fenrir took a moment to catch his breath. All around him, the sound of multiple people groaning in pain echoed around him and several shattered weapons littered the floor.

"Well, that was all together disappointing, truly it was."

Glowing with bright blue brilliance, Fenrir's eyes found the one lone figure still standing in the middle of this mess.

"You need better men!" Fenrir snarled, swishing his blades through the air to wipe them of the blood that had built up on the metal.

"True." Grendel conceded, before pointing his blade at Fenrir and flaring his coat behind himself, "Well, perhaps I can provide you with more of a challenge… monster."

Fenrir snarled as his inner beast roared in hatred. Eager to finally do away with this smug idiot, Fenrir lunged forward and swiped his blades at Grendel's head.

The older man deftly dodged to the side of the wolf's strike and hit him with the hilt of his sword. Fenrir stumbled backwards, clutching his nose, before going for another strike. Grendel span out of the way and dragged the side of his sword right across Fenrir's side.

"AAARRRGGHH!"

Fenrir yelled out, then went for an overhead strike. Once more, Grendel stepped backwards, and from there it was simply a pattern of Fenrir desperately trying to get one shot on the infuriating man, blades whistling through the air, whilst Grendel expertly dodged and countered, hacking away at Fenrir's slowly depleting Aura.

"You have a lot of anger wolf." Grendel commented, Fenrir practically seeing red as his fury raged, "Pity you lack the skill to properly use it."

"RrrrrrrrrrRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"

Fenrir's roar boomed like a thunderclap as he leapt into the air and smashed into the ground where Grendel had just been standing. As he crouched in the freshly-made crater, Fenrir saw a dark blue shimmer start to appear around his hands.

" _Your Aura,"_ The soft voice said, _"You have to use it. Let it strengthen you."_

Fenrir was still doubtful, actually he was incredibly doubtful. Every time he tried to use his Aura, it would always back-fire on him badly. Though right now, as Grendel dashed back towards the Alpha and started cutting away at him again, Fenrir was prepared to accept the consequences.

" _Just so long as I can get one hit on this…_ _ **ANNOYANCE!"**_

So it was, as a window of opportunity appeared in the form of Fenrir luckily blocking one of Grendel's strikes, Fenrir made his move.

With one hand, Fenrir tightly grabbed the wrist holding Grendel's sword, with his other, Fenrir pushed Grendel off his feet and ran them both into the far wall. Grendel grunted from the impact and Fenrir took his opportunity.

With a furious yell, Fenrir brought his bladed Gauntlet down on Grendel's sword with all the strength he could muster. Hrunting broke apart into a million pieces and for the first time in the whole fight, Grendel actually looked shocked.

Fangs flashing white, Fenrir grinned as he yanked Grendel off the wall, spun him round, and reeled his fist back to finish the Red Hand leader in one shot.

" _Okay Aura!"_ Fenrir commanded, _"Time for you to do something useful for once."_

At that moment, Fenrir felt something deep within himself come to life, and then a surge of power rocketed through his body. It felt like his body was being super-heated as a familiar blue glow came pouring out of his arm.

In the corner of his eye, Fenrir saw frost start to develop on his knuckles… and then travel across his blades.

BOOM!

A gigantic shockwave shook the warehouse down to it's foundations as Fenrir's blades slashed across Grendel's face and then the man flew backwards and crashed into the table at the centre of the building. The whole room was engulfed in chilly, arctic gales billowing out from the impact zone.

Fenrir stood in awe, a chilly breath of mist seeping out of his open mouth as he marvelled at his own power.

" _Th-that was insane! Do all Humans carry this much power within themselves?"_

Fenrir's amazement was short-lived however, as at that moment, a figure started to rise back out of the now destroyed table.

Grendel stood back up to his full height, cracked his neck and shrugged his shoulders, like he hadn't just been catapulted across the room.

" _How… How?!"_ Fenrir's mind screamed as it utterly failed to process what he was seeing, _"How could he possibly get back up from that? He doesn't even have a scratch on him!"_

Looking closer, Fenrir saw a green glow calmly shimmer around Grendel's body. On his face, Fenrir briefly caught four, thin slash marks shining on Grendel's cheek, before they faded away into nothingness.

"Heh, not bad Mr Lupus." Grendel chuckled, further unnerving the Alpha, "I almost _felt_ that."

"H-how can this be?" Fenrir muttered weakly.

"Well, I might not be an aspiring Huntsman like yourself" Grendel continued, striding back to where the Grimm was standing, unmoving, "But I too, also possess a Semblance. And I'm quite fond of it."

Suddenly, Grendel's body glowed that sickly green again, then before Fenrir could even react, Grendel was suddenly right up in his face. The older man sucker-punched Fenrir in the stomach, lifting Fenrir up into the air briefly.

The Grimm gasped as the air was knocked out of him, stumbling backwards as he tried to regain his equilibrium.

"I call it 'Champions wall'" Grendel continued, his smirk turning into something far more sinister looking, "It hardens my skin and muscles to inhuman levels. No blade can pierce me, no bullet can stagger me."

Grendel followed up with a jab to Fenrir's throat, causing the younger man to gag and clutch at his neck.

"And Beast, you… can't… hurt me!"

And as Grendel continued to glow bright green, he turned the tables on his opponent. Using his Aura to greatly increase his speed, Grendel relentlessly punched and kicked Fenrir in any spot he could hit. Fenrir hopelessly attempted to block Grendel's attacks, but the green-eyed mans Semblance strengthened his blows, easily smashing through any block Fenrir tried to make.

A kick to the shins.

A knee to the chin.

A fist to the jaw.

Fenrir barely had time to breathe as his attacker outclassed him in every way. All the while, his own Aura once again started to attack him, making it impossible for the Grimm to even get away from the onslaught, his legs locked in place.

Once Grendel was sure Fenrir was on his last legs, bruises and cuts covering his face, he decided to end the animals suffering. Shunting his Aura into both of his fists, Grendel leaned back and struck Fenrir straight in the Solar Plexus.

A green shockwave reverberated out from the impact, and Fenrir was sent crashing through the wall to the outside world.

"Gah…"

Stone and mortar cascaded in Fenrir's cloudy vision as he bounced off of the wall of the neighbouring building. A dark blue haze shimmered around the Beowolf's form briefly, before fizzling out of existence.

His aura was broken… but he was too dazed to even think about being angry.

So instead, he just slumped to the floor, his body battered and bruised. Grendel came waltzing out of the hole Fenrir's body had just made, looking down at the Faunus with a malicious, slight smirk.

"You fought well Wolf," Grendel said, pressing his heel lightly on top of Fenrir's head, the Alpha panting for air, "But you overestimated your chances against me greatly. I am faster, stronger, smarter, and so this ends the only way it could."

Grendel took a moment to stare up at the night sky above.

" _Come… on… get up… I can't… stop yet…"_

Fenrir tried to will his aching body to stand up and fight, but he was too beaten, he couldn't even muster the strength to lift an arm.

"I feel I should thank you beast. Tonight you have just reaffirmed my beliefs, because here I am, a Human, standing above you, a Faunus. I, the victor, you, the loser. This is the way it was always meant to be, Humankind, the superior race dominating over all other races beneath it."

Fenrir felt disgust well up in his core as this Human prattled on

" _Humankind… the superior race… no… NEVER!"_

"But I think not." Grendel continued, his expression turning into a more annoyed one, "As invigorating as this was, you did just destroy a priceless family heirloom of mine, and take out a great number of my followers. So for that, I'm afraid this is your journeys end."

Grendel brought a glowing fist up above his head, prepared to deliver a deathblow to the teenage Faunus beneath him. Just before he could however, Fenrir placed a hand weakly on his shoe.

The wolf stared up at him with nothing less than pure, undiluted hatred. Grendel swore he could see the Wolf's eyes change colour.

"Human… kind… will **Die… that is… your only… destiny!"**

Grendel's face twitched again, and Fenrir caught a brief flare up of the man's true revulsion towards the Faunus race. But then, the mans face shifted back to a neutral expression.

"Goodbye, Mr Lupus."

Grendel brought his fist back up again. Fenrir wanted to scream in anger, but he was simply too tired. So he shut his eyes and prepared for the end, thankful at least, that he got to die the way a true Grimm should.

In a great battle.

But then, the silence of the outside world was broken… by the ringing of police sirens.

All around them, bright red and blue flashes suddenly appeared from all around the old warehouse, the cars hidden only by a high wooden fence. Fenrir had no idea what was going on, but it apparently had a very negative effect on Grendel who visibly started to bristle.

"No… it's too early… we're not ready!" Grendel seethed, before letting out a very tired sigh, rubbing his temples gently, "That child, he must have gotten word out quicker than I'd thought he would."

Finished with his wondering, Grendel looked back down at the prone Faunus.

"Well wolf, it appears you've been saved by the bell, or more accurately the sirens." The green glow disappeared from Grendel's hand as he continued, uncaring of Fenrir's weak struggling, "While it is frustrating that the Red Hand must make our presence known before our time… So be it. We'll just have to accelerate the plan, meaning that for now… you get to live to see another day beast."

Removing his foot off of Fenrir's head, Grendel began to walk off, brushing a hand through his hair.

"Farewell for now Mr Lupus, I have a feeling this is not the last time we'll see each other."

Fenrir stared up from the floor, seeing Grendel's polished shoes walk further and further away. With a livid hiss, Fenrir balled his fists and pushed himself up off the ground.

" _No! I… can't let him… get away! I… Have to… beat him!"_

"Get… back… here!" Fenrir slurred, his body feeling like it was being held down by lead weights.

"Get… back… now… GRENDEL!"

Fenrir roared as he brought up one of his revolvers up and fired off shot after shot. Just as before though, Fenrir simply could not hit his mark, hitting walls, the floor, trashcans, but not Grendel.

The older man looked behind himself, smirked and made a condescending hum, before channelling his Aura into his legs and leaping up a five-story building, then disappearing out of sight.

Fenrir stared up at where Grendel had been just a second ago, his mind blank. Then his face twisted and morphed into an enraged snarl and he slammed his fists down onto the concrete floor, cracks spreading out in a massive spiderweb.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

Fenrir shook and shuddered with rage, his jaw clenched so hard he felt any second his teeth would break, a vein visibly popping out on his forehead.

All the while, black smoke started seeping out of his mouth and off his body.

" _He got away!"_ His mind screamed, his vision slowly turning red as his eye colour constantly shifted from calm blue, to fiery red, _"Grimm never let their prey get away, but he just did! More than that, he beat me! Tossed me around like I WAS NOTHING! I'LL KILL HIM!_ _ **I'LL RIP HIS HEART OUT AND SHOVE IT DOWN HIS THROAT! TEAR OUT HIS INSIDES! I'LL BATHE THE CITY IN HIS BLOOD!"**_

"Fenrir? Are you okay?"

Just before Fenrir's mind shut down completely, a small voice pierced through the fog of his hatred and registered in the Grimm's brain. Turning to the source, Fenrir gazed up with hellish red eyes at a small, blue-haired boy with equally blue wings.

Holding his scroll.

…

Phthalo had sneakily grabbed Fenrir's scroll during the middle of the battle. Whilst the Wolf furiously fought the man named Grendel, Phthalo had called the police on the scroll. He told the lady on the other end of the line that he was with all the other kidnapped Faunus and that they were at a big building called "Heorot shipping".

By the time the call was finished, Fenrir had just punched Grendel through a table. At first, Phthalo hoped that Fenrir had won, that now all they had to do was wait and the police would come take care of the rest.

But then Grendel showed off his Semblance, and Phthalo felt just as hopeless as Fenrir looked. He watched on fearfully as his friend was beaten to within an inch of his life. When Fenrir was punched through the wall, Phthalo had a serious urge to run out and distract the monster of man, anything to stop him from killing the young Faunus.

But mercifully, just before the leader of the Red Hand could deliver the final blow, the police arrived, their wailing sirens shattering the otherwise silent night.

Not long after, Grendel left, jumping up a building and vanishing from sight. After waiting a few seconds, Phthalo finally felt brave enough to venture out and see if his ally was okay.

What he found was Fenrir crouched down, shaking in the middle of a crater… and covered in black smoke.

" _I thought his Aura was blue? Why is it black now?"_

"Fenrir? Are you okay?"

The moment Fenrir's eyes locked with Phthalo, Fenrir's face shifted into an expression of cold fear, whilst Phthalo's worry only grew.

" _Why are his eyes red?"_

Fenrir ducked his head under his arms, convulsing as he desperately tried to reign in his temper.

" _No, he can't see me like this. He can't find out. Calm down calm down calm down calm down."_

"Stay back Theo!" Fenrir said in a strangled gasp.

Clueless as to what to do, Phthalo took a step back and just waited as Fenrir continued to writhe and squirm.

After what felt like an eternity to the Beowolf but was only a minute or two to the boy, the smoke started to dissipate from his form and he was able to gain a steady breathing pattern.

" _That was too close"_ Fenrir admonished himself with a final puff of black ash, _"If Theo had arrived a second later… I would not have gotten hold of myself."_

It unnerved the Grimm just how much the very thought of Theo getting caught in one of his rages, filled him with such icy dread.

"You okay? What was that just now? You were all smoky and black."

Fenrir looked back towards the frightened boy, now feeling extremely tired and all too aware of all the damage he had just received in his latest tussle.

"It's nothing Theo" He spoke gently, trying to quell the boys worries, "I just got… a little angry is all. Grendel got away, and he beat me completely."

"Oh, well… that's okay. You know who he is now, you can just catch him later, right?"

The boy spoke with optimism, but as Fenrir looked back up at that accursed roof, the Grimm felt cold fury smoulder away in his core.

"Yes…" He growled, "I'll catch him."

" _And make him regret the day he was born!"_

Taking his mind off of his most recent and bitter defeat, Fenrir shook his head and turned to face the direction where the sirens were still blaring, along with several voices barking orders at each other.

"I take it that was your doing?" Fenrir asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Phthalo grinned proudly and nodded his head.

"Figured you might like some back-up. I can't fight, but I thought I had to help you somehow."

Fenrir nodded, then did something he didn't think he'd ever do in his entire life.

He reached a hand forward, and tussled the boys sky blue hair.

"Good job, you might have just saved my life."

The boy positively beamed at this compliment, whilst Fenrir inwardly despaired at a new thought.

" _Well, now I owe Ruby AND Theo a debt. Super."_

Shaking the thought away, Fenrir gestured with a thumb towards the hole he'd just taken a flight through.

"We'd best go free the others. I imagine they will be eager to get out of those cells."

"Yeah!" Phthalo agreed, "Let's go!"

Fenrir slowly strode after the happily jogging boy. While Phthalo wasn't looking, Fenrir's expression darkened, his mind still full of thoughts of getting back at the Red Hand leader.

" _That is the absolute last time I let a HUMAN get the best of me. No more, you hear me! I will beat him, I shall win!"_

Back inside the warehouse, Fenrir took stock of just how much damage he had done to the place. All across the room, dozens of bodies lay strewn across the floor along with pieces of what had once been weapons. Some were groaning in pain, others clutching broken legs or arms, others still completely unconscious.

One thought made Fenrir stop altogether in confusion.

" _Wait a minute, they're all alive."_ His senses weren't lying. Not one of these bodies was a fresh corpse, _"Was I… Holding back?"_

" _No,"_ The melodic voice responded, _"You just made a promise, remember?"_

Fenrir didn't know what the voice was talking about at first, until his mind conjured up the image of a certain bunny-eared girl.

His promise to Velvet, to not kill anyone anymore.

" _Huh, guess I'm better at keeping promises than I thought I was."_

"You think there's cell keys around here?"

Phthalo's question snapped Fenrir out of his musing. Looking around, Fenrir couldn't spot any keys of any kind.

What he did spot, was his jacket… Still worn by that midget of a human Being.

Scowling deeply, Fenrir walked forward towards the unconscious man and forcibly removed his jacket from the man's body.

"Mine" He sneered down at the small man, still out cold and unable to hear him.

Fenrir couldn't care less.

As Fenrir put his thick, bulky and worn jacket back on his form, he felt a strange metal object jab his side. Searching through his inner pockets, the Alpha's fingers coiled around a strange circular thing. Pulling out the bizarre object, Fenrir felt a slight tingle of relief as he saw what he had discovered.

"Theo!" He called out, capturing the boys attention, "I think these might be the keys you were looking for."

Fenrir dangled up a large, iron keychain in front of the small boy. Laughing in victory, Phthalo ran forward and grabbed the keychain with both hands.

"Yes! Now we can get the others!"

Before Fenrir could join in with the boys celebrations, his lupine ears perked at the sound of movement.

Snapping his head towards the source, Fenrir's scowl deepened as he saw Hank was slowly stumbling back to his feet.

All at once, Fenrir's thoughts turned dark and malicious as he glared down at this man who had gone out of his way, to be an unpleasant pile of Human filth to everyone. He was the reason Fenrir was even here to begin with.

" _He… he needs to PAY."_

Looking back down at the anxious bird Faunus, Fenrir lightly nudged the boy in the shoulder, offering a comforting look to the child.

"Go down to the cells" He said lightly, "I'll take care of the people up here, male sure they don't try to escape."

Phthalo nodded and darted back to the flight of stairs that descended down to the dingy basement that housed Oum knows how many scared Faunus. Before leaving Fenrir's sight, the boy looked back over his shoulder towards the young Alpha.

"You won't… Kill him will you?" He asked nervously.

Fenrir surprisingly chuckled and nodded his head towards the boy.

"No, I won't kill him."

Satisfied, Theo turned and dashed down the stairs. The second he disappeared, Fenrir's smile melted away as he scowled down at the slowly recovering man.

" _As I told him earlier… I'll make him WISH he was dead."_

After everything Fenrir had just gone through, the humiliation he had endured. He'd earned this, the chance to get even with one of these Humans who'd crossed him.

As Hank looked up with bleary eyes, the first thing he saw was a colossal Wolf Faunus towering over him, cold, blue eyes seemingly looking right through him. Immediately, Hank crawled backwards, stammering as Fenrir slowly, oh so slowly, walked towards him.

"Now-now, hold on a bloody minute. Y-you've won okay! You can stop now. You don't have to do this!"

Fenrir's face twisted in disgust as this **pig** begged him for mercy. Hank meanwhile felt fear start to grip his heart as he got a better look at the dog. At first he thought the lights had been blown in the warehouse, but no. The shadows… they were swirling around the boy, twisting and coalescing like a cloak around the Alpha's form.

"S=stay back you stupid animal!" Hank yelled in a desperate attempt to scare the wolf off, "Get away, you're beneath me. You're beneath all huma… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Hank didn't get another word out as Fenrir silently grabbed Hanks left leg and callously brought his boot down on the kneecap, breaking Hanks leg in half.

Again, silent as the grave, Fenrir moved along to the other leg and broke that one like a twig.

Then he shattered the left arm.

Then the right arm.

Then he grabbed a still shrieking Hank by the hair, and punched him over and over and over again, staining his knuckles with Hanks blood.

What terrified Hank the most, more than the pain, was the fact that this boy… was smiling like a demented murderer as he furiously beat his face in. The Grimm's fangs glittered like stars amongst the sea of shadows.

And his eyes burned like fresh, hot coals.

Finally, Fenrir dug a clawed hand into Hank's ribcage, sending a fresh hot wave of pain coursing through the beaten and bloodied man. A dull crack echoed through the room, as Fenrir's fingers broke a couple of the long-haired man's ribs.

Only now, did Fenrir speak.

" **Listen closely you mewling worm!"** Fenrir snarled, his voice coming out as an inhuman growl, so deep it shook Hank down to his soul, **"I don't care about you, you are nothing compared to me. Less than nothing. You will leave Vale, I don't care where you go, you will leave. Because if I ever see you again, I'll break you in ways you couldn't even think up in your deepest nightmares. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME LAT URRURZ HLADA OB JOOR MORNA!"**

[You disgusting pile of human waste]

Hank burst into tears by the end of Fenrir's rage, helpless to look into the searing red eyes, of a monster.

A living nightmare.

" **Understand?"**

Hank weakly nodded, begging for the pain to stop.

Snarling in contempt, Fenrir threw Hanks head back to the floor, knocking him back to the land of the unconscious.

Broken, battered, but technically still alive.

With his business done, and feeling a great deal more satisfied, Fenrir backed off, the shadows returning to normal.

Just in time, as at that moment, the police were finally given the go-ahead to breach the building.

…

Time passed hazily for Fenrir after that. Phthalo successfully managed to free all the captured Faunus, and now the police were working round the clock to reunite the Faunus with their families or friends.

As well as detain all of the beaten-up members of the Red Hand… including one member with long hair who would apparently need to be kept in the hospital for several days and given physical, and mental therapy.

Fenrir fought hard to hide a grin at that piece of news.

Fenrir and Phthalo sat on the sidewalk, the former nursing an aching body, keeping out of the way of the local law enforcement. They'd already questioned the two heavily about how they'd gotten here, and what they'd found out.

By the end of it, it was safe to say that by tomorrow morning, all of Vale would know about the Red Hand, and just how much of a danger they posed to the Faunus.

An hour passed, Phthalo chatting with the older man who just listened comfortably. Soon though, the two's warm little world was broken by the call of a distinctly feminine voice.

"PHTHALO!"

Both their heads turning towards the shrill voice, Phthalo's face broke out into a relieved smile and he got up and sprinted towards the newcomer. Or rather newcomers.

"Mom! Dad!"

Phthalo practically cannonballed into the waiting arms of Fenrir presumed to be Phthalo's mother, if the giant blue wings were anything to go by. Behind the woman, an older man with the same bright blue hair as his son came up and wrapped the both of them in a tight embrace, tears streaming down all their faces.

Fenrir stood and watched on, relishing the comforting warmth that blanketed his soul as he saw a family get reunited right in front of him.

" _Well, at least you got a happy ending today kid."_

After a while, the mother and father realised they were being observed and looked up to see a teenage Wolf Faunus looking down at them.

"W-who are you?" The woman asked, stuttering through her cries a bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Fenrir apologised, backing off slightly, "I didn't mean to intrude, I'll just go over…"

"No it's okay mom." Phthalo said, bright grin still plastered on his face, "This is Fenrir, he helped me escape. He took down all the bad guys and busted us out like a superhero, he was so cool."

Fenrir scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, not sure how to feel about a Human child praising him so earnestly, or being called a superhero.

" _Or even just… a hero."_

The very word felt weird on his tongue.

The father rose back to his feet, face set in a firm line. The older man walked up to the dark-haired Grimm.

He held out a slightly trembling hand towards the dumbstruck Beowolf.

"Thank you" He said firmly, "Thank you so much for saving our son. We can never repay you for what you've done."

In all his years, Fenrir had never once been given thanks for anything he'd done. To be given such a thing now, it actually rattled the poor creature.

But then he felt that warmth magnify in his gut, and he couldn't ever describe the feelings he felt in that moment, not if he was given a million years to do so.

All he could think was that it felt… good.

"Y-you're welcome." He eventually replied, accepting the man's handshake.

Still crouched down on the ground, the woman looked up at the dazed Fenrir with teary, but immensely grateful eyes.

"Bless you" She exclaimed, "You're a hero after what you did today. Just… bless you."

Fenrir was at a loss for words.

He barely acknowledged sound after that, only just catching Phthalo's hasty goodbye as his family took him back home. All around him, the world seemed to blur as his mind tried to process all the things he'd been called by these people, these Dustlings in just this one day alone.

 _Bless you_

 _Hero_

 _Thank you_

" _You're a good man"_

And then, as Fenrir stared down at his aching hands, his mind flashed back to when he'd held Hanks head, and beaten him with nothing less than pure bliss etched across his face.

In that moment, Fenrir once again felt acidic shame twist itself like a knife inside his centre. He balled his hands up in anger and shut his eyes to try and tune the world out from around him.

" _They're wrong."_ He thought, _"I'm not a hero, I'm not a good man. Good people don't do what I do. I am, all that I ever will be, is a monster. Born to kill, raised by hate."_

" _But a monster doesn't save people either."_ Fenrir could almost see the voice smile inside his head, _"A monster doesn't tell a little boy to run when he thinks his life is in danger."_

Fenrir let out a small, dog-like whine as he lightly gripped at his head. This day had exhausted him, he didn't have the energy to think anymore. So with a shake of his head, Fenrir looked up and started making his way back to the airfield.

He made it all of three steps.

"Well, you've certainly had a busy day haven't you Mr lupus?"

Fenrir winced as he already knew the owner of that voice, and unlike the one inside his head, this one was all too real.

Sure enough, turning around revealed professor Ozpin, cane in hand as usual. The two looked at each other in silence, before Fenrir finally worked up the nerve to speak.

"I had no other choice" He spoke firmly, "I was captured, about to be sold off as a slave, I had to fight back."

"I believe you" Ozpin said clearly, fully trusting the Grimm's judgement in this moment, "Still, I think for your own safety now, you should take an escort with you the next time you decide to go down to Vale. Just in case… the Red Hand… decide to get revenge on you."

Fenrir wanted to protest, but he already knew it would do him no good, so he kept his mouth shut.

Ozpin turned to look up at the now ransacked warehouse, Fenrir following suit.

"So," Ozpin spoke after a while of silence, "These are the ones responsible for the kidnappings. I'll have to inform any Huntsmen and Huntresses within Vale to keep an eye out for any further appearances from this group. The leader escaped, so now doubt they will return."

At the mention of a leader, Fenrir's hackles rose as he remembered the sharply dressed leader of the Red Hand.

"Grar Grendelson" He growled aloud, "He beat me Ozpin. Took me down like I was nothing. He had this Semblance that hardened his skin to stupid levels. My blades could not cut him."

Ozpin hummed at this new information, but he was more concerned with the look in Fenrir's eyes at that moment. He could see it clearly, that nearly two decades old, primal hatred for the Human race, burning strongly away in Fenrir's dark blue orbs.

But now, that hate had a focal point, a specific target to zero in on.

" _That could lead to problems in the future. He didn't kill anyone today, but as long as that anger still rests inside of him, I fear he one day might do."_

"Speaking of your blades" Ozpin said, subtly trying to change the subject, "This would have been your first time using them in proper combat. What was it like? How did they feel?"

Fenrir's expression softened a bit at that question, as he looked down at the gauntlets now hidden by his jacket sleeves.

"They felt… strong" He eventually got out, "They cut straight through any weapon they came into contact with. They tore apart those thugs Aura's with ease… pity I couldn't figure out how to aim the stupid guns."

Ozpin chuckled lightly at that, offering the boy a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Well, with time and training, I imagine that won't be an issue for long."

That lightened Fenrir's spirits a bit. As much as this grey-haired man mystified him, he couldn't help but feel oddly at ease whenever he was around. He just.. lifted Fenrir's burdens somewhat.

However, as Ozpin turned to walk away, Fenrir felt a burning question resurface in his mind. One he'd had since he'd first seen the area where Jade lived.

"Come now Mr Lupus. It's getting late and you've had a long day. The police will finish their work here and they'll track down this Grar Grendelson."

"Ozpin," Fenrir grumbled, feeling slightly unsure of himself, but pressing on regardless, "Why… why do some Humans hate the Faunus SO much. Why is there so much hate towards them? I… I don't understand."

Ozpin looked at the Grimm, the wolf demon in disguise, and saw actual confusion and a strange sadness reflected in the wolfs eyes.

"Because," Ozpin said slowly, "Some Humans fear that which they do not understand. Sometimes, that fear leads to anger. And that anger, can make them do horrible things. That is why people like me stop them Fenrir, because if we don't, then the whole world would be swallowed up by their hatred."

Fenrir blinked, his face going through a thousand different emotions at once.

"But you know what I think Mr Lupus" Ozpin concluded, with a slight upward tug to his lips, "I think YOU could be one of those people too. While you may not think it, I believe in time, you could be the hero those parents thought you were."

Fenrir was completely shaken as Ozpin revealed that he knew exactly what Fenrir had just been thinking.

With nothing more to say, Ozpin turned and walked away.

Leaving a confused and conflicted Grimm behind him.

…..

It was midnight by the time Fenrir arrived back at beacon, the stars and moon twinkling overhead. On the way, Ozpin had asked Fenrir if he had found a way to repay his debt to Ruby. Fenrir had simply responded with a no, he hadn't, but he would keep searching for a way to make sure the debt was paid.

As they touched down just outside the Academy grounds, Fenrir saw that himself and Ozpin were not the only ones still awake and outside right now.

Down on the cobblestone pathway, Ruby and Pyrrha stood next to each other, Ruby pacing back and forth nervously whilst Pyrrha did her best to calm the younger woman down. Once Fenrir's boots connected with the ground, disembarking from the Bullhead with a small groan, Ruby was on him in an instant, rose petals billowing after her.

"OHMYGOD Fenrir are you okay? We saw your locker leave Beacon. We didn't know you'd left, I thought you were just hiding in your room all day, IhadnoideayouwereinValeandiwassoworriedithoughtyouwereindangerandI…"

"RUBY!"

Fenrir's bark finally got Ruby to stop her fountain of word vomit. He hadn't wanted to come across so harsh, but his brain hurt just from trying to keep up with the worrying girl.

"Sorry Fenrir." Ruby mumbled, pointing her pointer fingers against each other and looking down at the floor, making Fenrir immediately feel like garbage just from the sight alone.

"Mr Lupus is fine Miss Rose" Ozpin spoke calmly, being a saving grace for the poor beast in that moment, "He's just gotten into a bit of a fight with the people responsible with all those Faunus kidnappings recently. I'm sure if you ask him tomorrow, he'll tell you all about it, but right now he's tired and needs his rest. As do all of you, I believe curfew was three hours ago."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head sheepishly at that last part, even Pyrrha winced a little.

"Ah, yes of course sir, we'll head back to our dorms right away." Pyrrha said tactfully.

"Good," Ozpin said with a smile before turning to Fenrir, "You go on without me Mr Lupus, I have some phone calls to make."

A curt nod was all Ozpin got in return as Fenrir turned and walked towards the Academy proper, Ruby and Pyrrha walking alongside him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Pyrrha whispered when she was fairly certain they were out of earshot.

"I'm fine Pyrrha," Fenrir assured, looking and feeling more and more shattered the closer they got to the enormous spires of Beacon, "Just a little burned is all. I got beaten pretty bad. I'm really starting to not like being constantly chucked around by you Humans, it's embarrassing!"

Ruby couldn't help but chortle a little, even Pyrrha managed a small smile as she realised Fenrir was actually being somewhat playful at the end of his speech.

"Well, we're glad your back in one piece. Really." Pyrrha said genuinely

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed.

Fenrir turned to look at the taller girl, then felt that low warmth bubble away again within himself.

"Thanks Pyrrha. That… means a lot."

As the group neared the academy doors, Ruby let out a small noise of exclamation and darted ahead of the Alpha to look him in the eyes.

"So other than the whole fighting thing, did you get what you wanted from Vale?" She asked, "Did anything good come out of today?"

Fenrir initially wanted to deny Ruby's questions, not wanting her to know he'd failed his mission to pay back the silver-eyed girl. But then he remembered something positive had come out of todays… adventure.

He'd thought about it all the way back to Beacon, and the more he had, the more the name just sounded right to him.

"Well, no I didn't get what I wanted. But, something good did come out of today."

"Ooo, really, what is it?" Ruby asked with innocent curiosity.

"I have a name for my weapons."

That got both girls attention as they now stared at him with rapt interest.

"Really? What did you have in mind?" Pyrrha asked the unvoiced question.

Fenrir looked up at the giant, oaken doors. A slight grin crossed his features as he looked back down at his concealed Gauntlets, heavy on his wrists.

All throughout the journey back to Beacon, his mind had constantly wandered back to that single image of frost from his Aura covering his blades as they struck Grendel's face.

In that moment it seemed, Fenrir had almost immediately known just what name would perfectly fit HIS weapons.

"Frostbite."

 **A/N: And there we are, red hand leader established, Fenrir's weapons have a name, and the Grimm is in even more of an emotional turmoil than before. A lot of my lovely reviewers already noticed the parallels I'm making between Fenrir and Grendel, but I wonder just how many of you could pick out the references I made in this chapter.**

 **Also, in case anyone was worried I wasn't following the rule of colour:**

 **Grar: ancient Norse for Grey.**

 **Phthalo- A shade of Blue used in acrylic paints.**

 **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT HERE!: So next chapter is going to be chapter 25. To mark such a momentous occasion, I have decided that the next chapter is going to be a Q/A.**

 **You can leave a question in your reviews about the story, the character of Fenrir, or even a question for me [Nothing too personal of course].**

 **The deadline for this Q/A is this Sunday, so if there's anything you have been burning to ask me and I just haven't answered it somehow, now is your chance to be heard.**

 **And don't worry, I'll still be working hard on chapter 26 in the meantime.**

 **Thanks again all you lovely people, and I hope to hear from you soon.**


	25. Chapter 25: QA

**HELLO ALL, WELCOME TO THE SPECIAL 25** **TH** **CHAPTER Q/A. WE GOT A LOT OF QUESTIONS FROM YOU GUYS AND GALS, AND NOW I'LL DO MY BEST TO ANSWER THEM BEST I CAN. SO LETS BEGIN.**

 **Spadelinks076 asks: Did you have any other weapon ideas for Fenrir.**

 **Actually no, the claws were one of the first things I thought of when I sat down and decided on what Fenrir's weapons would be. The hard part was figuring out what his guns would be. It was a toss up between regular pistols and the revolvers he has now. Ultimately I went with the revolvers because they're more powerful and Fenrir is definitely the type to pick the stronger option.**

 **CreepingZombie asks: Will there be more Norse references and why choose Grendel as Fenrir's enemy.**

 **Yes, there will be a lot of Norse references in the future. It always was my favourite ancient mythology. Speaking of which, "Beowulf" was a piece we studied back in secondary school English, I grew really fond of the story [Unlike everything else we studied in English]. Because of that, I chose Grendel because Fenrir is, well a Beowolf. So the story just wrote itself there.**

 **Also, Fenrir Lupus doesn't have any siblings, so the likes of Jormungandr and Sleipnir probably won't make an appearance. Sorry.**

 **An Average Jo has a bunch of questions for me:**

 **How many chapters will there be by the end: I cannot say at this point in time, but one thing is certain, this story is going to be much longer than I thought it would be.**

 **Is there a fixed update schedule: Not anymore. Life is simply too busy for me to be consistent with my updates unfortunately. I try to get them write out whenever I have some free time.**

 **Is Fenrir getting paired with someone, if yes who?: Yes, that Romance tag isn't just for show. However, I shall not say who will be the one to ensnare Fenrir's heart. You'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Arno wisp… You have a lot of questions for me don't you buddy. Okay, deep breath, here we go:**

 **What made you write this story in the first place and do you have more long -term plans with the story?: Pretty much, I'm a fan of the show obviously, I love the designs of the Grimm, yet I hate how criminally underused they are in the show. With some exceptions in recent volumes, the Grimm have just been cannon fodder for the hero's to defeat easily. I browse RWBY fanfiction quite regularly, and one day I just decided to see if there were any Fanfic's regarding a creature of Grimm being turned into a human. The closest I could find were O.C stories where the main character in question is only half-Grimm, or is a child of Salem, or something like that. At this moment I had a realisation, no one has tried to write a story where a pure Grimm is changed against their will, into a Human Being. I sat on the idea for a very, VERY long time. I'm not the most confident of blokes, for a while I thought someone else will write it up, and they'll do it far better than me. After a while though, I grew restless and I decided "Fuck it. I'll do it, what could go wrong." Long-term, this story will basically follow the canon events as close as possible, with some differences here and there.**

 **What is the update schedule?: Like I said, there isn't one anymore. I update when I update, I can't promise any more than that.**

 **Do you have any background in writing?: Outside of creative writing classes in English way back when, no not at all. I do however, absorb a lot of entertainment. Books, movies, tv shows, video games, anything with a good story, I eat it all up.**

 **How do you prepare to write each chapter?: First I figure out the basic outline of what I want to happen in any given chapter, then I just write. I'm very "Let it flow" when it comes to my writing process. That's probably why the earlier chapters have more than a few spelling or grammatical errors, I was kind of in a rush to get this story out there.**

 **Will this story continue until the shows end, or will I go further or stop sooner?: All the way to the end baby! Though from the looks of these chapters, that's a long way off yet. In the future, far future, I've entertained the idea of a sequel of sorts, that's basically something like the "Old man Logan" storyline. Though in this case it would be old man Fenrir.**

 **Are there any movies/shows/characters you enjoy?: I'm really into superhero movies. I also am a big fan of action movies in general. Wolverine is my second favourite superhero, my first being Batman. Favourite character wise, I'd say I enjoy the grump characters who learn to soften up over time when surrounded by people who care about them, it's why writing Fenrir is one of the easiest parts of the story for me, because that is basically what he is. I'm also a fan of the plucky underdog character.**

 **Where do you plan to take Fenrir's character: Fenrir's journey is not so much a discovering of who he is, more a RE-discovering of who he is. He can no longer be the mindless monster he used to be, so now he has to become something else. Along with this, another big part of his journey will be realising he's not alone, and that maybe, he can find a pack of his own again. Did I mention I utterly adore the "Found family" trope?**

 **How often will we see the Grimmspeech, will other use it?: It will appear sparingly, it is an ancient tongue after all. There are ancient Grimm still out there, they will know it. And there will be a certain, power-hungry, megalomaniac who will have been taught it as well.**

 **Will the creation story be different in this story, or just expanded on?: Expanded on, the creation story with the two brother gods is an intriguing one. Where I plan to expand on it is how the Grimm race felt about the whole situation, how they felt about being used as just tools, seen as things by a jealous younger brother who made them out of spite.**

 **Will there be consequences to the Red Hand looking through Fenrir's scroll: Not really know, all they know now is his name and that he attends Beacon, they don't know about his origin… yet.**

 **How do you plan on improving Fenrir's fighting skill: He'll have to train a lot. As well as learn from the people around him, you'll see more of this in the next few chapters actually.**

 **Will other characters get dragged along in Fenrir's misadventures?: Oh yes, some I think that will come as a pleasant surprise to the rest of you. Fenrir will get around in this story.**

 **Who will be Fenrir's escort in Vale?: It'll change depending on who's available.**

 **Will we see who the lucky girl is?: In time, but I'm not gonna spoil it now.**

 **What region of the world do I live in?: I live in England, have done all my life, but I would like to travel someday, you know when I have the money. The weather is… cold right now.**

 **Dzzzy228 asks: Who is the lucky girl to be with Fenrir?**

 **Also: What was the inspiration for Fenrir's character?:**

 **[Yelling from the rooftops] NOT TELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGG!**

 **And Fenrir has primarily three characters who I took the most inspiration from. Wolverine from the X-men, Beowulf from the original Edda and the Big Bad Wolf from the classic fairytale. With a little bit of the Norse wolf god Fenrir dashed on top.**

 **seraphimnight asks: Why Frostbite?**

 **Because Grimm fate was too obvious. The title is more in reference to the fact that the main character is a Grimm, who has been given a bizarre twist of fate. Basically, Fenrir is a wolf-demon and his Aura generates cold, in contrast to Yang who's Aura generates heat. Hence Frost-Bite.**

 **AnerianJames asks: Will Fenrir ever be able to fully use his Aura and Semblance?:**

 **Oh of course, in the very next chapter in fact, Fenrir's going to take a big leap forward in figuring out how to stop his own Aura from hurting him. So, look forward to that.**

 **Guest Yeet and TocoolTocool both asked will Fenrir ever be able to control his Semblance:**

 **We actually haven't seen Fenrir's semblance yet. His Aura bolsters his attacks and creates frost as an aftereffect similar to Ruby's rose-petals, but his Semblance is something entirely unique to himself. You'll see, very soon in fact.**

 **vulcunniko asks: Will there be a flaw revealed to that hardening Semblance?:**

 **Yes I'll even say what it is right now. Basically Grendel's Semblance has two weaknesses. Firstly, surprise attacks, if you catch him completely unawares, his Semblance won't activate, and you'll do some damage. Secondly, his Semblance has a limit to just how much punishment it can take. If you get him into a long, drawn-out fight and keep hitting him, you'll eventually whittle away his hardening and he'll be defenceless. However Grendel has trained himself to be a perfect fighter, so his limit is quite high. In short, Fenrir will have to fight like hell in order to win.**

 **Vendicor asks: What made you want to write this story?:**

 **Look at the answer I gave Arno's first question, there's your answer.**

 **A guest asked: Why didn't Fenrir ask what mating was when he gave Blake her book back?:**

 **Grimm know what mating is, they even very rarely have children of their own, not born from pits. Fenrir is one of these uncommon occurrences. A little bending of the rule son my part but I thought it might give Fenrir an interesting dynamic in being one of the few Grimm who had parents.**

 **Paulvulturuk asks: Will Fenrir be able to control his Beowolf transformation in the future?**

 **Yes, in the future, Fenrir will be able to lower his Aura without having to hurt himself and get a high enough emotional state to trigger the transformation, yet still remain completely in control. Though that's going to take some time to pull off.**

 **DreamWeaverGod… As much as I'm itching to answer your questions right now, I can't as they are all spoilers for when we finally arrive at volume 3. All I'll say for now is Volume 3, will for me, be the toughest part of this story.**

 **A guest named Treefrogger asks: Will there be any more Liquid Dust to ruin someone else's life?**

 **The Liquid Dust shall make a reappearance and it will definitely ruin someone's [Fenrir's] life. More than that I cannot say.**

 **ian25rebel asks: On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad will the Vytal festival go between the Faunus, Humans and Grimm?**

 **Well in the show it was a complete 10. So for this story… it's going to go all the way to 15. A lot of stuffs gonna get wrecked, and a lot of blood will be spelt.**

 **And Fenrir… will want a break when it's all over, a long one.**

 **Another Guest asks: Will Jade be a returning character?**

 **Yes, and she will even get an arc of her own, demonstrating how even when Fenrir tries to do good things, he can still end up being a bad influence on people. If you know who Jade is in the actual show [Deery], then you should already know where this is going.**

 **Killing Harvest asks: Does the White Fang know about the Red Hand. Will there be a fight between them?**

 **They don't know about them as of yet, but they will do very soon. I imagine when the two organisations clash, I imagine that will put Fenrir in an awkward position. Hell the White Fang might even try to recruit Fenrir because he wears the skin of a Faunus.**

 **And considering that Fenrir has already seen jus how bad the Red hand are… he just might be tempted to put on the mask again.**

 **Soda-fiedPsycho asks: Will there be a neutral O.C character in this story?**

 **I don't know. I'm trying to avoid writing too many O.C's into this story. The show already has an issue with having way too many characters in it's story, if I add too many of my own, I risk this story becoming bloated and unfocused. For now, just file this question under "We'll see".**

 **Darkness Kami asks: Who is your most loved/most hated character. And can Ozpin create another Grimmborn?**

 **My favourite character is and will always be Penny. I relate to her so much in just how socially awkward yet earnest she is, which is probably why my second favourite is Ruby for similar reasons.**

 **Most hated character: Raven, for personal reasons.**

 **With Yang it was her mother, with me it was my father. That is all I'll say about that.**

 **Also Ozpin probably won't create another Grimmborn, but that doesn't mean somebody else won't try, like a certain disgraced Atlesian scientist.**

 **Stormzx asks: Is the story projected to reach the end of the RWBY canon?**

 **That is the plan my guy, though I might go a bit further if I'm feeling up to it. Such as a next generation, and as I already mentioned, an Old Man Fenrir storyline.**

 **And there we are. A Q/A completed.**

 **NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE ANOTHER BREATHER CHAPTER TO WRAP THINGS UP WITH THE RED HAND FOR THE MOMENT, THEN ON TO "FOREVER FALL". IN ALL SERIOUSNESS GUYS AND GALS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS LITTLE EVENT WITH ME, AND ESPECIALLY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO FOLLOWS, EVERYONE WHO FAVORITES, EVERYONE WHO LEAVES A REVIEW, OR P. M'S ME, OR EVEN JUST READS QUIETLY TO THEMSELVES, THANK YOU. THIS YEAR HAS BEEN A ONE OF GREAT CHANGE FOR ME. LAST YEAR WAS ATROCIOUS, AS IT WAS FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE, BUT FOR ME IT WAS REALLY BAD. BECAUSE OF THIS STORY HOWEVER, AND ALL THE KIND, SUPPORTIVE WORDS YOU'VE GIVEN ME, I'M FINALLY TAKING STEPS TOWARD A BETTER PATH IN LIFE. I HAVE A JOB I ACTUALLY ENJOY, I SEE MY FRIENDS A LOT MORE NOW, AND I CAN FOLLOW MY PASSIONS NOW MORE THAN EVER. SO YEAH, I'LL CONTINUE TO UPDATE THIS STORY AND GIVE YOU THE BEST I CAN POSSIBLY GIVE YOU, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT YOU'VE DONE FOR ME.**

 **See you later guys.**


	26. Chapter 26: The road to improvement

**A/N: Hello there! For those unaware, the Q/A I spoke of is done and written up, check out the chapter before this one if you haven't seen it yet, I think it overall went really well. With that out of the way, here's another slice-of-life chapter before we go straight back to the canon events with "Forever Fall". Enjoy!**

 _Monday_

" _Okay! That wasn't too bad. I only cut myself three times that time."_

Another early morning and Fenrir was wide awake, standing in front of his bathroom mirror and slowly shaving his face after realising that the dark hairs had started to appear on his face again. His sleep had been… fitful to say the least.

The incident with the Red Hand, and more specifically their leader, had stuck in the Grimm's brain all night. Grimm pride was truly a troublesome opponent, and ever since he had gotten back to beacon, it had yelled at him, over and over without end.

Reminding him that he had failed, he had let PREY get away from him, overpower him and make a fool of him. Fenrir was truly loathe to let prey escape him in such a way, he was supposed to be the best. Last night had only shown he was the opposite of the best.

And that fact had eaten away at him for hours, long after the battle was done.

Grumbling to himself, Fenrir tried to dispel his thoughts with a shake of his head. He had an hour or so to kill before he needed to get to his first class of the day, so in the meantime he decided to go rifling through the multitude of shelves in his storage space/dorm room to see if he could find anything interesting.

When he'd been cleaning his room before, he had mainly spent the time getting rid of broken, old pieces of junk and rotten food.

He didn't want mould thank you very much.

Now though, he had some time to kill, so he figured going through just how much stuff he had in this glorified cupboard, would be an acceptable use of his time.

So Fenrir took a look around, eyeing each and every shelf with a keen eye. It was mostly just cleaning supplies, several mops and buckets propped up in the corner to emphasise this, but there were some other curiosities that Fenrir didn't have the slightest clue what they were for.

There was a strange, multi-coloured cube with various sliding parts. A tiny metal box with a removable lid that, when Fenrir ran his thumb across it, lit up a small fire on top. And, there was also a big, thin, strip of plastic covered in bubbles that were oddly satisfying to pop.

So much so, that Fenrir ended up popping all of them. He was weirdly disappointed when he had to throw the used-up piece of Bubble-paper into the trash.

But by far, the most bizarre thing he came across in his search for amusement, was a small, banged-up, grey circle, sitting atop a pile of cardboard tubes in a blue crate. The circle was about the length of a hat, and as Fenrir picked it up to inspect it, he noticed a series of letters and numbers was written on the back.

"T3R…3NC…" The Grimm read aloud, his brow creased up to show his perplexed thoughts.

" _So what do you do, I wonder."_

Looking at the strange disc more closely, Fenrir spotted a tiny switch on the underside of the device. Curiosity compelled him to flip the switch, and when he did, the tiny machine suddenly whirred to life, shaking slightly in Fenrir's grasp. The Beowolf noticed three, miniscule wheels start to move on the bottom of the device.

Shrugging his shoulders, Fenrir carefully placed the thing onto the floor and took a step back. When he did, the machine immediately started moving across the floor, leaving a trail behind it as it went along. It was as the machine continued to trundle along, the Beowolf realised that the trail the thing was leaving, was actually from where it was cleaning the floor beneath it, removing the dirt and dust that had accumulated on the grey, stone floor.

" _Ohhh, It's a miniature Vacuum cleaner!"_ Fenrir pieced together.

He remembered having to use a vacuum cleaner to clean up a Dust workshop during his two-week stint in detention, that he was still in the middle of. That one however, had needed him to drag it along. This one it seems, was capable of doing the job itself.

Oddly amused by the small machine, Fenrir continued to watch the device carry out its route, rolling steadily across the floor of his room. At one point, the hum-drum piece of metal bumped lightly into a wall and appeared to be stuck. Fenrir stuck out a foot and turned the machine to the side slightly, feeling bad for the thing as it just kept mindlessly hitting the wall.

Once it was freed from it's embarrassing loop, the machine carried on its way. Meanwhile, Fenrir felt that odd twitch start to make its way on his lips.

" _It's a machine. It doesn't even have a face… So why am I finding this thing so adorable!"_

… _.._

Glynda let out a tired yawn, rubbing at her eyelids as she slowly got herself ready for the coming day. Yesterday, Ozpin had instructed her to watch the Grimmborn in his room and monitor his progress, as he would be away on business today and would be unable to observe the Beowolf himself today.

This meant that the veteran Huntress had had to wake up even earlier than normal today, a fact she was not at all happy about.

" _I know the life of a teacher is the life I chose,"_ She thought to herself, grimacing slightly as her eyes adjusted to the far-too-bright monitor screen on her desk, _"But I'll admit, this is not what I expected to be doing when I took the job."_

Once the screen finally connected to the cameras in the Grimm's room, Glynda instantly spotted the pair of pointed, wolf ears that belonged to Beacons resident Alpha, still in his large storage space that was now posing as a bedroom.

Only, once she realised that the Grimm wasn't moving on his own two feet, the older Huntress quickly clamped a hand around her mouth to prevent a very uncharacteristic bout of giggles from spewing from her mouth.

The Grimm was sitting down, riding on top of a **Roomba**.

" _What on earth is he doing?"_

Glynda just continued to watch, half dumbstruck, half disbelieving as she watched this giant, grim-faced monster in disguise, grinning like a fool as he rode around on the metal contraption, ducking under a table as the machine continued to clean his floor dutifully.

After a while, Glynda shut the screen off, leaning back in her chair as her brain just utterly failed to comment on what she had just seen.

" _Well…"_ Glynda thought to herself, shaking her head as she continued to go about getting herself ready for morning classes, _"This will be quite a story to tell Ozpin when he gets back."_

… _.._

" _Last night, dozens of families and friends breathed a sigh of relief as they were reunited with their captured loved ones. Around 30 or so captured Faunus were recovered by the Vale police force at an abandoned shipping Warehouse, on the verge of being sold off as slaves outside of the Kingdoms borders. Sadly, not every missing person was recovered, several of them either killed or already shipped off to parts unknown. Ever since, the police and several of the kingdoms top Huntsmen and Huntresses have been working around the clock, searching for the group responsible for these monstrous acts, a group that has now been confirmed to work under the name of "The Red Hand". Due to their sudden appearance, it is believed that this is a relatively new organisation and, as we feared, they appear to be targeting Faunus specifically. It is this stations opinion that this new batch of terrorists, are a dark reflection of the much more Infamous "White Fang". This morning The Vale council members had this to say…"_

Fenrir scowled in contempt, watching from behind the Break rooms sofa as the news lady continued to talk about the events that he had been a part of last night. He had come to the room initially, to wash his hands after they were caked in dirt from where his detention had had him removing weeds from one of the Academies many miniature gardens. When he had entered, the rooms T.V just happened to be on at the time, and Fenrir's attention was immediately grabbed by the words "Red Hand".

" _Interesting how neither I nor Theo have been mentioned yet."_ Fenrir thought to himself, observing as various pictures from last night were shown on the screen, some showing the Warehouse, some showing the recently freed Faunus, and others showing the Red Hands broken equipment and masks, yet there wasn't a single image showing himself or the young bird-Faunus.

" _I suspect that might be Ozpin's doing. Trying to keep me out of the spotlight."_ Fenrir eventually guessed, figuring that the enigmatic Headmaster was still trying to give the Alpha some privacy. All of Beacon knew what he was, but to Vale and the rest of the world, he was still just an ordinary Wolf-Faunus. Ozpin it seemed, wanted to keep it that way.

" _After several hours of combing through what little evidence they could find in the abandoned building,"_ The news caster continued, _"The police have now brought a name forward that they believe is the leader of this nefarious, new group. Grar Grendelson, originally hailing from the kingdom of Atlas, and even a former student of Atlas academy, was expelled in his second year after repeated offences of assault towards fellow students who were of the Faunus kind. After his expulsion, Grar disappeared without a trace for five years, eventually returning as the driving force behind this new group of extremists."_

Fenrir's fists clenched till his knuckles turned white at the sight of a younger, clean-shaven Grendelson, standing in front of a white background as he was getting his picture taken for his student I.D.

" _Grendel!"_ Fenrir growled, white-hot hate boiling away in his core as the News lady's voice faded into the background, _"You think you can just beat me and think that's the end of it? No! I'll face you again and next time, I'll get my_ _ **REVENGE**_ _."_

There was only one thing the Grimm desired more than destruction and bloodshed, and that was getting even. Getting payback for any time a Human dared to slight them in any way. It was half the reason why Fenrir had even come to Beacon in the first place, to get revenge on the one who had twisted and morphed his body into this new form.

Though after meeting and getting to know Ruby, he'd long since let go of that particular grudge. This however, this one was going to last until Fenrir could drive his fist through Grendel's smug face.

" _Police and the Huntsmen be damned"_ The Grimm sneered, his mind filling up with vicious thoughts, _"I will find Grendel, and I'll make him suffer for daring to think he is better than an Alpha-class Grimm._ _ **HE'S MINE, MINE TO KILL, MINE TO RIP APART UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!"**_

"Hey there Fenrir!" A childishly upbeat voice broke through Fenrir's swirling Miasma of loathing, bringing him back to the real world.

Ruby and Yang had just come sauntering in to the otherwise empty common room, their previous conversation dropped when they saw their Beowolf friend watching the T.V with a weirdly tight grip on the back of the sofa.

"Umm, you okay there wolfy?" Yang asked as the black-and-blue haired teen just stared at them silently, "you look a little ticked off about something."

Fenrir's response to their questioning looks was just a long-suffering sigh, before gesturing with his head towards the lit-up screen, still displaying Grar's mugshot and the title "Red Hand unmasked!" underneath.

"Oh" Ruby remarked, her tone becoming instantly more serious as she saw what had grabbed Fenrir's attention, "Is that… are those the guys you were fighting yesterday?"

"Oh yeah, Ruby mentioned how you'd had an… interesting evening last night." Yang added, hands on her hips in a casual manner.

"Hmmph, you could say that" Fenrir responded gruffly.

Walking over towards the big metal box, Fenrir shut the television off by its power switch, deciding he'd seen enough of his newest adversary's ugly face for one day.

"So Uhhh, care to tell us what happened?" Ruby asked awkwardly, "You did say you'd tell us later."

"I said I'd tell YOU." Fenrir remarked, but then sighed as he realised there was little point to him resisting, these two especially would just keep pestering him until he told them everything.

"But… I guess there's no harm in letting you both know, just as long as you handle telling everyone else. I don't like talking about how much I suck at fighting in this body."

Ruby winced, reminded of how Fenrir was a very prideful creature and that telling a story that involved him losing a fight, probably wasn't his idea of a good time. So, with a quick nod of her head, Fenrir took a seat and gestured for the two sisters to do the same.

The Alpha then quietly told them all that had happened last night, once again omitting just why he had been in Vale in the first place. From being captured by Hank and his thugs, to meeting Grendel, to being rescued by Phthalo and all the way up to the big fight that involved Fenrir wiping out all the Red Hand members, just to get punched through a wall by Grendel.

"Dang!" Yang whistled once Fenrir had finished, "Sounds like quite the scrap, wish I'd been there! Still though, blades through the arm Fenrir? You're a brutal one aren't you?"

At this, Fenrir let out a dark chuckle, his eyes flashing dangerously as he stared straight at the blonde brawler.

"Believe me Yang, I was holding back… they were all still breathing at the end."

The two girls felt an uncomfortable shiver travel down their spines as they realised what Fenrir was implying.

" _Man, you can definitely tell he's got a monster in him."_ Yang remarked in her head, slightly unnerved by how casually Fenrir could dismiss the act of taking Human life.

But then, her attention was drawn to her younger sister, who's expression had weirdly lightened.

"Well I think it's good that you didn't kill them" Ruby said, even catching Fenrir off guard as he gave her a perplexed look, "I think you're better than that now, and as a Huntsman-in training, you have to be a protector, not a killer."

"I'm not a Huntsman." Fenrir responded automatically, before shaking his head and looking ahead of himself.

" _She's far too optimistic. If you don't have the nerve to take a life, you won't survive in this world."_ Fenrir thought to himself.

Growing up in the wilds, he'd learnt to be ruthless, learnt that if he didn't kill his enemies, they would kill him without hesitation.

"You can't go through life without getting some blood on your hands," Fenrir explained calmly, "If you try not to, those who wish harm upon you, will very quickly destroy you."

Ruby pouted as she saw Fenrir was still stuck on his bleak outlook of life, but then she grew a wry smile and shook her head.

"Nope!"

Yang let out a short bark of laughter, already sensing Ruby's stubborn side coming out to rear its head.

"Nope?" Fenrir exclaimed, looking at the small red-head like she'd just told him the sky was yellow.

"Nope!" Ruby continued, "When I become a Huntress, I'm going to fight the bad guys, and then I'm going to throw them in jail where they'll stay there forever. If we kill people Fenrir, then we're no better than them, and we have to be better than them. That's why we're Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"Yeah!" Yang agreed exuberantly, "We have to be the best of the best, so no life-taking. Bone breaking and teeth missing though, we can work with that!"

Fenrir stared up at the two smiling girls, then he let out a low, tired growl, staring back towards the shut off T.V.

"Whatever." Fenrir grumbled. He could see their point, but he didn't agree with it. A moral high-ground really doesn't matter when it come to a life-or-death situation. Plus the idea of simply throwing your enemies into a cell just made Fenrir want to laugh.

" _Yes, I'm sure those who want you dead will quite happily stay in their prisons, and not try and regather their strength to take you on again, causing more destruction in the process."_ The Grimm thought sarcastically, before returning his features back to their neutral frown.

"It doesn't matter. Grendel got away, he's still out there somewhere." Fenrir said as he rose up from his seat, clenching his fists tightly, his fury curdling like a bubbling cauldron.

"I will find him." He whispered darkly, "And I'll make him pay."

Fenrir's company just watched the Grimm's back with concerned eyes. It seemed as if the shadows themselves had briefly darkened around the wolf, before he straightened himself up, shook his head, and turned back to look at the pair.

"But that will have to wait," He muttered, "Right now, I need to get stronger, much stronger, if I'm to even stand a chance against him."

Having said his piece, Fenrir stalked off to the coffee machine to pour himself a fresh brew. The sisters started having a hushed conversation between themselves, Fenrir too tired to bother listening in.

His attention was eventually taken away from the steadily heating up pot, when he felt a small, delicate hand rest on his shoulder blade. Looking down and following the offending limb to its source, Fenrir's dark blue eyes were immediately drawn to Ruby's shining silver orbs.

"Hey," She whispered, forcing Fenrir to lean forward slightly in order to hear her, "I've got someone who got away from me too."

Fenrir's entire body language shifted as he turned to fully face Ruby. He couldn't imagine the little red-head in front of him having enemies, outside of his own kind that is.

"Really?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed, "Back before I got to Beacon, there were these guys robbing a Dust shop I was in. They even tried to rob me too."

Fenrir let out a quick chuff of humour as the image was drawn in his head.

"I assume they quickly came to regret that?" He asked, more than aware of Ruby's combat prowess.

"Heh, yeah maybe just a little." Ruby chuckled, before going back to a more serious tone, "But the guy leading them, he got away in a Bullhead. If professor Goodwitch hadn't shown up when she had, I might have gotten badly hurt."

That caused Fenrir to actually feel surprised at what he was hearing. After she had so effortlessly taken him down over a month ago, it had never crossed the Beowolf's mind that Ruby herself wasn't invincible.

" _Wow, I really do have an ego don't I?"_ Fenrir thought with a wince.

"Still, it worked out in the end." Yang called out from where she was still sitting on the couch, "Taking down those robbers really seemed to impress Professor Ozpin, enough that he admitted my baby sister into Beacon early, which means I can always watch over her and make sure she doesn't get into trouble."

Ruby visibly bristled at her older sisters comments, whilst Fenrir merely looked at the back of the blondes head in confusion.

"Early…?" He mumbled aloud.

Yang shot her head backwards, giving a disbelieving look to the navy-eyed Faunus.

"Did you never notice that Ruby is two years younger than everyone else here?!"

Fenrir scratched at the back of his head, before admitting that he hadn't thought about it at all.

"No, I don't really know how Human education works."

"Anyway!" Ruby cut across loudly, not giving Yang the chance to start singing her praises again, she'd had quite enough of that for one lifetime, "The point is, I've got someone I'm trying to catch too. But that's just it… I'm going to catch him, lock him up so he can't hurt or rob anyone else, but I won't kill him, even if he embarrassed me."

Fenrir looked down at this small, cloak-wearing girl whose eyes shined with determination as they gazed up at him. The Beowolf couldn't help but think back to the first time the two had met, how her eyes had looked just as fiercely driven then as they did now.

"And I think you should do the same Fenrir. You'll prove you're better than him if you can fight him, win, and not go 'all the way' if you know what I mean."

The Alpha was confused. Just why were these Humans trying so hard to make him not kill, first Velvet now Ruby.

" _If they're trying to preserve my innocence, I'm afraid they're about 16 years late to that intervention."_ Fenrir scoffed to himself _"I'm a killer, why do these Humans keep insisting that I don't kill anyone?"_

Right on cue, the soft voice that rattled around in his sub-conscious made it's presence known with its soothing tones.

" _Because they care about you, they're worried you'll regress back to what you used to be if you take a life now. They believe you are better than that now… As do I."_

A very noticeable shiver ran down Fenrir's spine at those words.

Deciding he was done with this conversation, Fenrir held up a placating hand and addressed the younger girl who was still staring up at him.

"Okay! I see your point," He said hurriedly, "If it means that much to you people, I won't kill him. I still think it's stupid though."

Ruby simply held her head up and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You just wait and see Fenrir. In time, you'll see I was right to tell you to reign it in. You'll be all like 'Wow, Ruby was right, it feels so much better to not kill the bad guys, what a great leader and friend she is'."

Whilst Ruby was caught up in her own ramblings, Fenrir simply quirked an eyebrow before shaking his head and returning to the now boiling coffee pot.

"Yeah, sure." He said sarcastically.

Having said her piece, Ruby spun on her heel and walked towards the fridge, humming to herself all the while.

Only for that humming to be replaced with a groan of annoyance not a few seconds later.

"Aggghhh! No fair, who put the milk on the top shelf. Stupid kitchen… built for giants…"

Fenrir could only half hear what Ruby was saying as she pouted to herself. After serving himself up a freshly made cup, Fenrir shook his head and decided to give the smaller girl a break.

"Here." He said gruffly as he casually leaned up past Ruby, grabbed the carton of milk and handed it to the mini reaper.

Ruby said nothing as she stared at the floor, scuffing her boots on the hard tiles, but she gave him a nod of thanks, nonetheless. Yang, meanwhile, had stood up to walk towards the pair and offered an amused grin to her younger sister.

"Don't worry Ruby, I'm sure you'll grow up… sooner or later."

By the end, Yang was fighting hard to not burst into chuckles, only made harder by Ruby glaring scornfully at her.

"Yeah yeah, keep laughing Yang. As long as I keep drinking my milk, I'll be even taller than you some day."

Yang was about to offer a rebuttal, but then she took a look at the Grimm who was currently watching the pair with an amused glint in his eyes.

Immediately, the beginnings of a fiendish idea started to brew in her mind as she started to sway on the balls of her feet.

"Hey Fenrir?" Yang asked coyly, "Tell me something, do Grimm drink milk?"

Fenrir stared perplexingly at the Blonde brawler. He could sense that she was probably up to no good and that this was a ploy of some kind. However, with no idea what that endgame was, Fenrir decided he might as well answer.

"No… Grimm do not lactate, any natural born's are born with a full set of teeth, and I never felt the desire to ask a cow to let me bite its udders."

Despite his blunt manner of answering, Yang nodded along as she set her plan in motion.

"Hmmm, interesting." The Blonde remarked in mock innocence, before looking back at her confused sibling, "Do me a favour Rubes, just look at yourself and then look at Fenrir."

At first, Ruby had no idea what Yang was getting at. But then, as she stared between herself and the equally dumbfounded Grimmborn, the pieces slowly started to slot into place.

She looked at her milk-drinking Five foot two.

And then at Fenrir, and his non-milk-drinking _Six foot four._

Ruby's face morphed rapidly from shock, to deep sadness, to childish anger. And then she flung herself forward and started pounding her fists against Fenrir's chest.

"YOU BIG, TALL, JERK!" She yelled as Yang roared in laughter.

"HEY! W-WHAT DID I DO!" Fenrir shouted in indignation as he held his attacker back by her face.

Yang, meanwhile, just continued to watch her newest piece of entertainment play out in front of her, stealthily swiping Fenrir's coffee away from him whilst he tried to bat away his attacker.

" _Man, I love this place."_

… _._

 _Tuesday_

Another early May morning saw Fenrir Lupus jogging steadily across the grounds of Beacon, taking in the scenery as he bounded along swiftly.

Though that steadiness was quickly thrown out the window when the Beowolf's canine ears picked out the quickly gaining footfalls of an all too familiar female approaching him from behind.

"Don't say it." He warned behind his shoulder, "Don't you say it…"

"On your left." Pyrrha called out as she raced past the Grimm.

"OH COME ON!"

It baffled and infuriated the Grimm in equal measure, just how effortless this red-haired Spartan could completely out-class him.

It reminded him once again of his battle against Grendel.

Just like all the times before, Fenrir's competitive nature overruled his sense of judgement and he furiously sprinted forward in an effort to keep up with the girl. After a while, the two stopped once the Alpha had collapsed to the ground, gasping for air.

"You know…" Pyrrha remarked, breathing heavily but still standing, "You don't have to… keep racing me… every time."

Fenrir stared flatly up at Pyrrha as he laid down on the cold, damp grass.

"You… clearly don't know… just how competitive… we Grimm can be…" Fenrir huffed as he got back up on shaky legs.

It was true, the Grimm were always competing against one another, it was the closest thing they had to entertainment out in the wilds of Remnant. Though now that he thought about it, he always had been more eager to prove himself than most Alpha's his age.

"I guess not" The tall red-head consented after a while, smile still present on her face, "Well, I suppose that's enough for today, see you in class Fenrir."

Pyrrha began to walk off as Fenrir simply offered a nod to show he'd heard her. But then, Fenrir's thoughts were brought back to Grendel, and the fight that had ended with him laying on the floor, head pressed down by Grendel's shoe.

And then he stared at the back of Pyrrha as she sauntered away. He had seen enough combat matches now to know that Pyrrha was undoubtably one of the strongest fighters at this academy. And then he remembered one of his earlier conversations with the girl.

" _She said she had a training regime at… Sanctum was it? Apparently it was even tougher than this place. I can clearly see the results, she's practically untouchable in a fight. I wonder…"_

"Hey Pyrrha! Wait a moment!"

Pyrrha looked back as Fenrir jogged up to her, wondering just what the quiet Grimm could want with her now.

"Pyrrha," Fenrir asked, taking a moment to figure out just what exactly it was he was asking of Pyrrha, "Do you… remember your training exercise, from back in Sanctum?"

"Oh!" Pyrrha exclaimed, surprised by Fenrir's question before nodding her head affirmatively, "Yes, they had us memorise it during the first term we were there, sadly not many of my classmates actually DID remember it, or stick to it for more than a few days."

"Do… do you think you could write it down for me?" Fenrir asked with a look of discomfort on his face, "I'd like to get stronger but I… I don't know how, not in this Human body."

Pyrrha's expression suddenly grew solemn, taking aback the young Grimm slightly. Here was a Beowolf, asking for her help with no prompting from her at all, and yet she had absolutely no idea how to help her teammate, her partner, with his problems regarding his… less than stellar fighting skills.

"Pyrrha?" Fenrir asked, slowly catching on to the girls Negative thoughts.

A quick shake of her head, Pyrrha was able to refocus on the man in front of her and reattach a winning smile to her face.

"Of course Fenrir, I'd be happy to help you improve yourself." Seeing that Fenrir still looked unsure after sensing her growing moroseness, she decided to play on his competitive spirit to take his mind off it, "Though I should warn you, it isn't for everyone, only myself and a few others could see it through to the end of our first year, it might end up breaking you."

Pyrrha got the desired reaction almost instantly as Fenrir narrowed his eyes and stared down at the girl, his previous worries completely erased from his mind.

"Are you doubting me?" He questioned shrewdly, a slight upward tilt on his lips.

"Just thought I should tell you in advance" Pyrrha responded coolly before adopting a more genuine expression, "I'll just send the schedule over to your Scroll then shall I?"

Fenrir agreed and after exchanging his contact information with the girl, walked off to let Pyrrha continue her trek back inside. Looking across the quiet, serene fields that made up the perimeter of the majestic academy, the sun beginning its routine ascent into the cobalt sky, Fenrir took in a dep breath as he felt his mind clear.

It felt good, to finally have a tangible goal in his mind. Even better, it was a goal fuelled by something he was already intimately familiar with.

" _You'd better watch yourself Grar Grendelson,"_ Fenrir thought to himself as he grinned sinisterly out to the horizon, his eyes flashing in-between Blue and red, " _Vengeance is an incredibly strong motivator!"_

… _._

 _Wednesday_

Fenrir felt like dying.

After classes had ended yesterday, and he'd completed Goodwitch's daily community service, he'd immediately begun on Pyrrha's training regime. To put it simply, it was basically what he'd been doing every Saturday prior, but with twice the intensity and spread out across multiple days through the week.

When it was done, Fenrir felt like his body was burning, parts of his body aching that he didn't know could ache. Especially when he'd had to drag a gigantic tire that weighed about as much as a fridge across the entire gym floor with a length of rope.

He'd roared from the effort, but he held onto the pain like a precious jewel. He knew with every effort, every torn and shredded tendon, his muscles would grow back stronger, thicker. By the end there was a moment of weakness, a second where he'd considered that maybe this wouldn't be worth the effort.

But then he just had to picture Grendel's leering face, and his fury commanded him to pick up the rope and keep moving.

Power was not given, it was earned. And by the gods, Fenrir was going to earn his.

But for now, it had been a long day, and he felt like relaxing in the library for a few hours. All around him, students were drifting in-between the aisles or sitting down at desks, heads buried in whatever books they were reading at the time. Fenrir, like any predator, learned best by watching. So the more he observed these Humans, the better he could understand their patterns and behaviours. This became apparent when he realised he wasn't at all surprised when he could see Ren and Nora tucked away in the corner, the boy diligently reading with a careful eye, but the girl already fast asleep, face-first on her own textbook.

"Hmph" Fenrir huffed with the barest hint of a grin as he observed the pair for a moment, before moving on to a different area.

As he moved to see if he could claim a chair that was by a window, Fenrir soon spotted another familiar face amongst the sea of students, one that was currently sitting all by herself.

"Afternoon Weiss." Fenrir greeted.

Weiss startled a bit as Fenrir apparently snapped her out of… whatever it was she had been doing. Honestly he had no idea, she had this weird, black and white board in front of her, with those strange hologram creations dotted all across it.

" _That's a whole other curiosity in and of itself. Objects you can see, but are unable to actually touch. Humans are a creative bunch, I'll give them that."_

Once the Heiress realised it was the Grimmborn talking to her, her facial expression became a touch less frosty as she returned the greeting.

"Good afternoon Fenrir. Are you here for schoolwork?"

Fenrir held up the book he'd kept hidden under his armpit, allowing Weiss to see the title.

"I'm looking into how you Humans are able to transport goods across Kingdoms. I imagine it's difficult, what with my kind teeming across all of Remnant."

"We found ways," Weiss remarked proudly, "Your kind might be numerous, but you can't be everywhere at once."

"Eh, perhaps," Fenrir consented. His eyes were then drawn back to the board the white-haired girl was interacting with even as she talked to the Wolf Faunus. His curiosity beginning to flicker back to life, the wolf cocked his head to the side and gestured towards the strange device.

"What's that?" He asked.

"Oh this? It's just chess. It's a board game some people play for fun."

At that point, a black piece moved all by itself across the board, the piece looked like a horses head. Weiss bit at her lip as she processed the move the computer had just made, before nodding confidently and moving a white piece that looked like one of those human castles Fenrir had seen occasionally across Remnant.

Silently, Weiss continued to play against the machine as Fenrir just watched on. After a while, the Alpha crouched down to observe the boardgame from an eye level, his feet perched up on his toes and his tail swaying lazily behind him. The heiress didn't say anything, but she couldn't help but in that moment to compare the boy to a curious dog.

" _Even the way his ears are flicking and twitching. Does he have any control over them, or does he just not bother?"_

Soon enough, Weiss had achieved victory by entrapping the black King, with no chance of escape. Immediately the board lit up pure white and let out a quiet chime as words hovered above the board.

"Check… mate?" Fenrir questioned aloud.

"It basically means I won the match. You win chess by trapping the opponents king piece, to put it simply."

Fenrir nodded slowly to himself, gradually understanding at least the basic points of this strange, human game. Looking back up at the bemused heiress, he felt the need to ask another question.

"So, how does this… game benefit you as a Huntress?"

Weiss took a second to figure out how best to answer the intrigued Alpha, before eventually coming up with an answer that she felt would satisfy the Alpha.

"For me, I suppose it helps me strategize better in combat. The board is like a battlefield, the pieces are like soldiers. I think your mind is just as, if not more important, than your body in combat. Take the Grimm for example, your main strategy is to just simply smash down the front door and tear apart everything and anything in sight. That's why we've been able to establish the four kingdoms as well as we have, we know how your kind works and are able to plan around them. We made strongholds that you can't penetrate through, we out-thought you."

While Fenrir didn't exactly appreciate that his whole race was being branded as simple minded by the Heiress, he couldn't exactly find fault in her logic. Looking back on his fight with Grendel, Fenrir realised the older man hadn't just out-muscled him, he'd also out-manoeuvred him. He'd read the Beowolf's movements and used that to his advantage.

Loathe as he was to admit it, Fenrir couldn't deny his fighting style was still too slow, too predictable.

" _Perhaps I should use these Humans weapons against themselves"_ He mused to himself, _"Start using some 'strategy' of my own."_

As Fenrir absorbed Weiss's words, the gameboard automatically reset itself. Unbeknownst to the Grimm however, Weiss had made a slight adjustment to the black pieces. She was curious as to what the Grimm's next move would be, if he would figuratively take the bait she had laid out for him.

She moved one of her pawns with a practised hand, and then rested her hands on her lap and waited.

Fenrir stared at the board for several seconds, before his brow furrowed in confusion.

" _Is it broken?"_ He wondered _"Why aren't they moving?"_

Weiss watched from the corner of her eye, wondering if the Beowolf would catch on to what she was waiting for.

A moment passed.

And then, very slowly, Fenrir reached out with a clawed hand, grabbed a black piece exactly the same as the one Weiss had moved, gave a grimace as he saw the piece respond to his hand, yet he couldn't actually feel the object.

" _Yeah, I'm not ever getting used to that."_

And then he moved the black pawn two squares forward and left it there.

Weiss responded immediately, moving another one of her pieces across the board. Fenrir blinked rapidly, then looked up in confusion at the white-haired girl, wondering just what on Remnant she was trying to do.

"The computer just gets a little too predictable after a while," Weiss said, as if that explained everything, before pointing at the empty chair sitting across from her, "You look like a thug, sitting on the floor like that. Get up on the chair like a decent Human being and let's get started."

"I'm not a…" Fenrir was about to retort, but a cutting gaze from Weiss promptly shut him up, "…Right, okay."

The Grimm sat down in the chair and just stared at the board for a while. After a moment of deliberation, Fenrir shrugged his shoulders and decided 'Why not'. If nothing else, it would be a convenient way to pass the time, and who knows, he might come out of this a little bit smarter than he had been before.

"I doubt I'll be more of a challenge than the machine." Fenrir admitted reluctantly, "Just saying."

"Like I said, the machine gets boring after a while, predictable" Weiss responded, waving a hand in the air as if to dismiss Fenrir's doubts, "And I can say that you, Fenrir Lupus, are most certainly not predictable. Now, let's play."

Fenrir looked off to the side, trying to hide the smile that fought fiercely to express itself on his face. Once he'd regained his composure, Fenrir rolled his shoulders and awaited Weiss's next move, already feeling the flames of competition ignite within his being.

He lost very quickly.

In fact over the course of several hours, Fenrir lost a lot. Weiss was as merciless as she was cunning, moving pieces across the board like a master-level tactician. Fenrir fell for a lot of the ice queens traps, his first instinct as a Grimm being proven true as he just blindly rushed in, trying to cause as much damage as possible. After a while though, he did actually start to think about what he was doing, this becoming most noticeable when he was about to take one of Weiss's pieces, but then his hand stayed.

" _No, wait a minute,"_ Taking a second, Fenrir scanned the board and quickly realised what would happen if he went ahead with his original plan, _"If I take her… um… Bishop, I'll be in checkmate instantly."_

Taking a second to look at the pieces he still had, Fenrir instead moved a rook closer to his king, trying for something a little more defensive. Weiss watched on with an impressed smirk. She could practically see the gears slowly turning in the Alpha's head as his eyes darted across the board, his tail flicking behind him suddenly whenever he spotted something.

She won again a few moves later, but she could see he was gradually starting to use his brain and thinking before he rushed in to attack.

But honestly, the game wasn't really what she was getting invested in, though Fenrir's aggressive style was certainly different. As the two played their game, Weiss started talking with the Grimm, asking how his studies were going. Fenrir simply responded that they were going about as well as expected.

He then went on to talk about the new workout plan he'd been given by Pyrrha, mentioned how he hoped to get stronger, more capable with his Human body than he had been. And from there, the two just drifted from topic to topic, Fenrir's neutral frown slowly melting away to a warmer, more relaxed expression.

The two found themselves, quite enjoying their time together.

" _I actually don't even mind that I'm losing at this."_ The Beowolf thought to himself.

"Checkmate!"

"… _Okay, maybe I mind a little."_

… _._

 _Thursday_

For the barest moment of time, Blake closed her eyes, stilled her mind, and let out a slow, deep exhale.

And then she opened her eyes, and in fired off her pistol at the targets in front of her in rapid succession. The shooting range was filled with the sounds of Gambol Shroud firing away, each bullet finding its mark with deadly accuracy.

And then just as suddenly, silence returned to the featureless room as Blake lowered her weapon and looked at the cardboard cut-outs in front of her, separated only by a divider that went up to her hips. She nodded, satisfied when she saw that each round had found it's mark, a smoking hole dead-centre in each of the targets. She liked to think she was a pretty good marksman already, but there was always room to improve.

" _I wonder if I should ask Ruby for some advice"_ Blake pondered as she began storing her weapon away, _"She uses a sniper rifle after all, I wouldn't be surprised if she knew some tricks on how to improve one's accuracy."_

Before she could give the idea anymore thought however, a quiet groaning sound caught her attention. Looking up towards the small flight of steps that led down to the shooting range, Blake saw Fenrir standing in the doorway, clutching his right shoulder as he hissed in pain.

From the looks of it, the Grimm hadn't noticed her yet, his attention instead on what appeared to be a pulled muscle if Blake had to guess. Carefully, Fenrir thudded down the small staircase before walking towards the shooting range, and now noticing that he was not alone.

"Oh hey Blake." He greeted simply.

Blake offered a simple nod in return, wincing slightly as Fenrir tensed up and grabbed his shoulder again, letting out a quiet gasp of pain.

"Hurt yourself?" Blake questioned as she also took note of how Fenrir was wearing his gauntlets, which according to her leader had now been given the name "Frostbite".

"Yeah," Fenrir grunted, "Pyrrha's training regime has been… tougher than expected."

The second day of any work-out plan was always the worst, and now the Grimm knew that to be a fact. He could feel it deep in his bones, the exerted joints, the worn-out muscles that begged him to stop. But he had ignored their pleas, too determined to get just that little bit stronger.

A little pain had never hurt him before.

"Well, be sure not too push yourself too hard," Blake advised, "That'll just end up having the opposite effect of what you want."

Fenrir chuckled good-naturedly before responding.

"Don't worry, I'll be taking it easy for the rest of the day. Well, as soon as I'm finished up here."

And as if on cue, Fenrir pressed the pads at the base of his gloves and his silver revolvers sprung up from his forearms, barrels spinning slightly before coming to rest. The Alpha strode up purposefully towards the wooden divider, taking a cursory glance toward the various targets that hung suspended in the air.

He frowned as he spotted some of the were shaped like Grimm sillohuetes, but kept his bitter comments to himself.

Seeing as his right arm currently felt like lead weights were strapped to it, Fenrir decided to only use his left arm for today. Bringing his forearm up slowly, the Grimm eyed the targets in front of him, trying to gauge their distance and size.

And then with no more preamble, Fenrir squeezed the pad on his glove and fired ahead of him.

The gunshots rang out like cannon blasts in the otherwise quiet room.

But just like the first time the Alpha had tried using these infernal firearms, none of his shots actually hit anything except for the drywall behind the targets.

"Rrrrrggghhh" Fenrir growled and muttered under his breath, letting his arm fall limply to his side.

" _I said I didn't want guns!"_ The Grimm thought as his scowl only deepened, _"I told her quite clearly I would be no good with them, but here they are and as I thought, I can't hit anything with them. I'm getting really tired of this terrible performance I'm giving."_

"Did you try using the sights?"

Fenrir visibly bristled, his tail snapping behind him in irritation. Looking to the side, revealed that Blake was indeed addressing him, giving one of those small smirks of hers that right now only served to further annoy him.

"What are 'Sights'?" He eventually asked after taking a moment to quell his ire.

Instead of answering his question verbally, Blake walked up to the Beowolf in disguise and held his arm out until it was fully extended in front of him.

"You see these little bumps on the top here?" Blake asked as she ran a finger across the top of the revolver.

"Yeah." Fenrir nodded as he did indeed notice the small ridges that made the top of his guns.

"Match those up with your line of sight," Blake explained clearly, "Then line all that up with the target you want to hit, I think you'll have more luck that way instead of just firing blindly."

Taking a moment, Fenrir tilted his head and shut his right eye, focusing intently until the sights of the gun were near perfectly matched up with the far-off target ahead of him.

"Bend your knees a little," Blake continued off to the side, "Revolvers have a lot of recoil, you need to be ready to brace against that."

Looking down at his legs, Fenrir crouched slightly, planting his feet firmly against the ground and bringing his weight ever so slightly forward.

"Finally, just before you fire a shot, take a big breath out. It'll steady your hand for a moment."

Taking a second to breathe in, Fenrir shut his eyes and focused on the weight on his arm. Then, snapping his eyes wide open, the Alpha took a long, deep exhale.

Then he pressed the pad.

BANG!

Fenrir tensed as he felt the vibrations from the revolver firing run up and down his limb. Lowering his arm, Fenrir felt a building sense of anticipation and hope run through his mind as he looked ahead to see where the Dust round had ended up.

A singular, smoking hole just off-centre of the cut-out was the first thing that caught the Grimm's attention. It wasn't perfect, but it was a massive improvement from before.

"…YES!" Fenrir whooped in jubilation, feeling like electricity was coursing through his veins.

He suddenly felt energised, ready to bound and leap across the room. Finally, something had worked for him, and that feeling of success shook off any lingering self-doubts within an instance.

" _Still room to improve, but I'm closer now. I can use a gun!"_

Unable to hide or suppress the elated smile that painted his face, Fenrir turned back towards his sudden teacher and bowed his head toward her.

"Thank you Blake. It feels… good to finally achieve something again."

And he meant that, he had grown tired of failure. This was one of many steps in the right direction, to better hone and strengthen his Human body and his Beowolf body. Until one day, he could truly feel worthy of the title of "Grimm" once more.

"Glad to hear it," Blake said after a while, slightly stunned after seeing Fenrir actually, properly smile, and the subtle sway of his tail behind him, "Keep practicing though, you still have a long way to go."

Fenrir nodded in ascent and then turned back towards the shooting range. Blake having given as much advice as she was willing to give today, decided to leave the Wolf Faunus be.

"Blake?" Fenrir called out just before the bow-wearing girl could leave, a question having just surfaced in his mind, "Do you… know anything about the Red Hand?"

For a moment, Blake appeared to tense up at the question. Ruby had naturally told her whole team about the events Fenrir had been caught up in the middle of regarding this new group of criminals.

"No, not a thing." Blake responded, her expression growing colder as she remembered reading the news report on this new and dangerous group, "This isn't the first time a group like them has appeared though. The Human Defence League, the Pure Ones, the Exterminators, there's always been people who wanted to wipe the Faunus out or turn them into a slave race. Before, they used to be ex-soldiers from the Faunus war who were just bitter that they lost the war, now though they just look like a bunch of screaming children who think they're better than everyone else."

Fenrir frowned deeply as he could see Blakes frustration start to rise. The dark well that Fenrir was equal parts curious and cautious about swirled around the dark-haired girl like a shadowy snake.

"Has it always been like this?" Fenrir asked quietly.

"As long as anyone can remember, yeah." Blake responded with a nod, not even looking Fenrir in the eye as she scowled at the floor, "In the first age, Humans used to write cautionary tales, scary stories warning people to stay away from the Faunus, believing they were just Rabid creatures of the wilds that had disguised themselves to look Human in order to catch unsuspecting prey. There were even rumours back then that the Faunus were 'The unholy offspring between a Human and a Grimm'."

When Blake had read that particular theory in the ancient textbook, it was the first time she had felt the urge to tear one of her favourite past-times to pieces. The Beowolf just stood there in disbelief.

" _Like a Grimm would ever mate with a Human!"_ He thought to himself with a shake of his head, _"We hate their whole race. How did that even become an idea in these Humans heads?"_

Fenrir leaned back against the wall and combed a hand through his air, letting out a puff of air.

"… You Faunus really have it rough don't you?"

Blake almost wanted to laugh. A Grimm, of all the creatures on Remnant's soil was able to see there was something wrong with the way her people were treated, yet those in power were wholly content to turn a blind eye.

"Yes we do," Blake answered quietly, before looking up at Fenrir with a hardened edge in her Amber eyes, "That's why I'm here remember? When I become a Huntress, I'll finally be able to make a real difference, get people to see the Faunus as more than just animals and maybe then, things will actually start to change."

"You are only one Faunus Blake." Fenrir rumbled, "Do you really think you can make such a difference by yourself?"

Surprisingly, Blake smiled slightly and shot Fenrir a knowing look.

"You like history Fenrir, look up how many times one person was able to make a difference against enormous odds."

Fenrir thought on it, and he realised the girl in front of him had a point.

" _The last king of Vale… Nicholas Schnee… Well I guess, one person CAN make a difference in the right circumstances."_

"Huh… Well, if you think you can do it Blake, I won't stop you. Thanks for the talk, it really helped me figure things out."

Blake nodded once again, and Fenrir watched her head up the stairs. He knew the girl had a lot of negative energy built up within her, the dark void was proof of that. He also knew she was hiding something from him, maybe from even her own teammates. But from what he could tell, her intentions were pure, and there was no doubting the inner strength she possessed, the Grimm could see it clear as day.

So he was content, to let Blake pursue her goal as she wished, even if he thought it was impossible. She thought she could do it, maybe her convictions would give her the strength to see her goals through. Only time would tell.

" _Though I do wonder, if these are Blake's goals, what about the rest of them? Are Ruby, Weiss and Yang just here because they want to fight monsters, or is there a bigger reason?"_

All these Humans that surrounded him, so sure of their purpose where he was still struggling to regain his. Maybe if he looked into it more, he would find his centre once again.

But in the meantime…

"Hey Blake," The Teen called out, "I know you're a Faunus… but I never asked, what type?"

Blake's response was as short as it was concise.

"What's my favourite food Fenrir?"

Blake walked out before she heard Fenrir's response, but she knew he'd got it when she heard him chuckle.

" _She has Tuna with almost everything…. Ah. Well then, guess that explains why her scent annoyed me the first time I sensed it. Dogs and Cats never did get along."_

Shaking his head, Fenrir refocused himself and looked at the next lot of targets.

" _Okay, Inhale, hold and release…"_

… _._

 _Friday_

Outside of himself, Fenrir had never seen any other student at Beacon academy scaling the rooftops of the expansive campus. Yet today he was given a most peculiar sight when he'd walked outside to have his lunch, the cafeteria just too full of negative energy for him to deal with right now.

Everything had seemed normal at first, the day was cloudy but fair, the temperature a little too warm for Fenrir's liking but not enough to grouse about it. He'd just rounded a corner, planning to go to the statue in the centre of the courtyard when he'd been greeted with the image of Nora shouting up at a wall.

" _Hmmm, I know I should leave it alone for my sanity's sake"_ Fenrir groaned internally as he already started walking towards the vaguely irritated ginger, _"But I've gotta ask."_

"You can't stay up there forever Ren!" Nora yelled, unaware of the looming presence of the Grimmborn right behind her.

"Nora, what are you doing?" Fenrir asked, looking upwards himself to see just what this was all about.

"Oh, hi Fenrir." The smaller girl greeted jovially, before returning to frown up at the top of the wall, "I'm just trying to get Ren to stop acting like a baby. We were just talking about how I am PERFECTLY capable of having more than one Espresso shot first thing in the morning to get me going, and he says 'no' and just walks off."

Fenrir had heard about Espresso and how it was basically just coffee supercharged, so the thought of Nora, one of the most energetic girls he knew being hopped up on the stuff… was an image the Alpha was quite content on never seeing in real life.

On the roof of the building Fenrir and Nora spotted the quiet ninja balancing up on one foot, his eyes shut, and his hands clasped together in front of himself. Fenrir couldn't help but be impressed at the perfect balance Ren was displaying, mere centimetres from the edge of the roof yet not even a tremor in his legs as he seemed to tune the world out around himself.

"Does he do this often?" Fenrir asked, not taking his eyes away from the sight above him.

"Yeah," Nora sighed, "He says it helps him relax, quiets his mind or something like that. I tried it once, it was SO boring I thought I was gonna fall asleep!"

Fenrir nodded slightly to acknowledge he'd heard the girl next to him. Looking up at the long-haired male, Fenrir suddenly had an idea and he took several long strides backwards.

"I normally don't mind when he does this stuff, but if he stays up there any longer WE'RE GOING TO MISS LUNCH!" Nora continued, yelling the last part up towards Ren in the hopes it would catch his attention, to no effect.

Suddenly, Nora's attention was taken away from the roof by the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Spinning on her heel, Nora caught the sight of Fenrir running into a dead sprint before leaping up towards the wall of the building.

The moment Fenrir's hands made contact with the stone, he was hauling his body upwards, his fingers digging into the hard rock and his feet providing an extra burst of speed.

In a matter of seconds, Fenrir had leapt up past the edge of the roof, did a flashy front-flip and landed crouched down on the lip of the roof.

Letting out a puff of air, Fenrir rose up to his full height and looked down at the ground beneath him. Nora was staring up at him with wide eyes and Fenrir felt his pride swell slightly.

"Impressive" A calm voice spoke to the Grimm's side.

Looking over his shoulder, Fenrir spied Ren looking at him with one eye opened.

"You and Nora are having problems?" The Grimm asked in reply.

"It's nothing serious, no need to worry" Ren assured the questioning Grimm, "Sometimes, Nora just simply fails to listen to reason, so it's best if I give her some space for the moment."

The Beowolf huffed in acknowledgement then turned to look down at the ginger girl. Eventually the girl seemed to huff in annoyance and walked off, stomping her feet all the while.

" _These two have an… odd relationship."_ Fenrir thought to himself with an odd spark of humour fizzling away in his core.

Taking a moment to just breathe in the open air and let the light breeze tousle his shaggy hair, Fenrir turned to observe the quiet ninja as he continued to stand on one leg and breathe deeply.

"What, exactly, are you doing?" Fenrir asked slowly.

Keeping his eyes shut, Ren answered the Grimm's question in his typically brief manner.

"Meditating."

Fenrir's brow scrunched up in confusion at this new word. As if sensing the Grimm's lack of understanding, Ren smiled lightly and turned to answer the beast properly.

"It's an exercise of the mind." He said slowly, "A way to clear ones head of unwanted or unhealthy thoughts. A way to centre one's self and find their inner calm."

Fenrir processed these words slowly, oddly intrigued by the boys words. It reminded him of one of his biggest problems that was currently facing him right now.

His anger, his one true source of power for years, in this new body was failing him.

" _Never heard of a calm Grimm."_ Fenrir mused, _"We're always running hot. Perhaps… I could benefit from this mind-clearing in some way."_

Again, that primal part of his brain scoffed at the idea, mocking the thought of calming his mind. But Fenrir was learning, slowly but surely that his rage would only carry him so far. After all, his anger hadn't saved him from being nearly cut in two by a certain red and black clothed girl with an oversized gardening tool as a weapon.

So with a careful eye, Fenrir observed Ren's stance fully, down to the last minute detail. When he felt certain he'd got the general idea down, he stood a couple of feet away from the boy and very slowly, brought one of his legs up until it was suspended in the air.

Immediately, Fenrir had to bring his foot back down to prevent himself from falling onto his face. It took several more attempts before the Alpha was able to hold himself up for more than a few seconds and even when he had, he wobbled like a tree caught in a hurricane.

When the tremors finally eased up a bit, Fenrir dared to crane his neck towards the unaware boy. Ren's face was the picture of serenity as he took slow, deep breaths that were immediately carried away by the wind high up.

"So… how do I clear my mind?" Fenrir asked hesitantly.

Ren appeared to jolt for a second, looking to his right to see that the Grimm was now standing in an almost exact copy of his own pose. The slight widening of his eyes being the only indication to the Grimm that he was surprised by his actions.

"Go through your memories." Ren explained softly, "Think back to a place or time where you were truly content. Think of only that, let everything else drift away. And also… Breathe, just breathe."

Fenrir appeared to think for a moment, his mouth set in a firm line, before he shut his eyes and started to breathe in through his nose. Ren seemed to take that as his cue and turned back to continue his own meditating.

For Fenrir, there was only one thing that he could truly count as a peaceful memory.

And that was home.

In his mind, verdant green trees sprang up from the void of his subconscious. Earthy ground appeared beneath his feet, he could almost hear the sound of a stream flowing near him, practically feel the mid-morning sun cascading it's life-giving rays from above onto his porcelain muzzle.

The forests of Remnant, the pockets of land that were completely untouched by Dustling hands. That was peace to him.

Because it was a vision of what all Grimm fought for, why they kept fighting day after day, year after bloody year. To keep these images real and alive in their minds.

And to ensure the _Humans_ never destroyed it.

Slowly, all the harsh lines and the deep frown that almost appeared to be permanently etched on Fenrir's face, melted away as he let his mind linger in this free place, his leg stopped shaking and his shoulders slumped slightly as he released his tension.

Neither of the two was sure how long they'd stayed this way, but eventually Ren was broken out of his own deep state when a sudden chill started biting at his side.

Cracking open a singular eye, Ren stumbled back and nearly audibly gasped in surprise at what he was seeing.

Fenrir was glowing. A light blue haze had completely enveloped his form and at his feet, a sheet of ice had completely covered the ground and the Alpha's breaths were coming out as white clouds of mist.

" _I've never seen someone's Aura be THIS visible before"_ Ren thought to himself as he watched the blue energy travel through Fenrir's veins, the closest comparison he could think of was Yang, and even then only when she was supercharged after taking a few heavy hits from her opponent.

"Fenrir?" Ren asked, but Fenrir was completely unaware of the boy's calls, so he took a step towards the wolf and spoke louder, "Fenrir!?"

Fenrir opened his eyes, as if waking up from a deep sleep and looked towards the other male curiously, before looking down at himself.

"What?... What's wro- WO-WOAH! NO NO I DIDN'T MEAN TO!..."

Fenrir practically leaped backwards as if trying to get away from his own Aura, panic immediately making itself known on his face as he braced for the oncoming tidal wave of pain that he knew was coming.

Only… it never came. His Aura just retreated back into his body and disappeared, the glittering frost on the floor being the only indication that it was there in the first place.

"I… I'm okay. I'm okay." Fenrir whispered in amazement, staring down at his hands as they remained completely still. No unnatural shakes or vibrations.

" _How is this possible? Every time I tried to use my Aura before it attacked me, why not now?"_

Fenrir didn't get much time to ponder why exactly his volatile Aura hadn't struck him this time before Ren was on him with a wary eye.

"Fenrir… are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah." The Alpha said, shaken out of his thoughts and focusing instead on slowing his heart rate down, "Yeah, I think so."

Ren nodded slowly, his eyes clouded over slightly from internal conflict that Fenrir instantly sensed.

"Hey!" He called out, snapping Ren out of his thoughts, "We've been up here for a while, you can probably go back down to Nora and the others now."

Ren turned to look at his scroll to see that a significant amount of time had indeed passed since the two had been up on the roof.

"What about you?" Ren asked quietly.

"I… I'll join you shortly" Fenrir replied, failing to look the magenta eyed boy in the eye, "I just need to take a minute to be with my thoughts."

Ren didn't like the idea of leaving Fenrir by himself in the clearly distressed state he was in, but he didn't get much of a choice as the Beowolf had already walked off to stand next to the edge of the roof again with his arms folded and his guarded posture fully back up.

"…Ok" Ren got out quietly before making his way back inside the building they were currently standing on, leaving the Grimm to himself and whatever it was he was thinking.

Yet the entire time Ren walked through the busy hallways of the academy, he couldn't help but think about the Wolf's sudden display of his Aura, and how much it unnerved him.

" _I know I said I was willing to trust him. But that Aura, that ice, just spilling out of his body… I dread to think just how dangerous he could become if he could use it willingly like the rest of us."_

Ren was incredibly Aura sensitive, and he'd gotten a very close look at Fenrir's in just those few moments. Long enough to know that the Grimm had an incredibly high Aura level. Not quite to the level of his leader Jaune who's Aura level was just absurd, but still enough to not be taken lightly.

Fenrir himself had admitted he was dangerous, and that was before he had an Aura. Now that he had one, and a strong one at that, Ren couldn't help but feel a small pang of worry twist in his gut at the thought of an Aura wielding Grimm…turned loose against his teammates, his friends.

For now though, the boy would simply have to watch… and wait.

…..

 _Saturday_

Fenrir had practically turned the library upside-down after he had finished his detention for the day, all in a desperate effort to help him find anything on better controlling his Aura.

Yesterday was the first time he could think of where it hadn't instantly attacked him the second he tried to use it. But he was not happy about this, in fact now he was even more irritated than before.

Because 1: He hadn't summoned his Aura willingly.

And 2: He couldn't use it that way in a fight.

The last thing going through Fenrir's mind in the middle of battle were 'Peaceful thoughts', so right away he knew that line of thought would get him nowhere.

" _When Grimm fight, we do not restrict our emotions, we utilise them. If giving up my rage is what's required to let me use my Aura, then I'm sorry but it's not worth it. I will never give up my anger… I'm nothing without it."_

Just as before however, Fenrir found very little in regards to Aura control, only the usual guff about how Aura was meant be a reflection of a person's true nature.

" _That just makes even less sense"_ Fenrir thought to himself, massaging his temples in rising agitation, _"If it's meant to be a reflection, then why do I have to be calm in order to use it?"_

" _Don't forget,"_ A melodic voice called out in Fenrir's subconscious, _"Your Aura is not entirely your own. It was given to you by someone else."_

The Grimm's frown deepened at that mysterious voice that continued to persist in his head.

" _If you're so smart"_ Fenrir replied, not hiding his condescending tone in the least, _"I don't suppose YOU could tell me how I'm supposed to use this bloody power!?"_

Silence was all he got in response.

" _Great, thanks."_ Fenrir thought with an annoyed smile that looked more like a grimace from the outside.

The Beowolf was taken out of his inner dialogue however, when he noticed a mop of scraggly blond hair in his peripheral vision.

" _Jaune?"_

Indeed, the young Arc boy was walking towards the Grimm's current position, head bowed low and arms withdrawn into themselves. He wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to his surroundings, evident when he was getting steadily closer to where the Wolf Faunus was standing and not showing any signs of slowing down or stopping.

"Jaune!" Fenrir barked in alarm before the boy actually did crash into him.

"GYAH HA!" Jaune yelped, leaping straight up into the air before bouncing back down to the floor.

"Oh uh, hey F-Fenrir, how you- uh, doin?" Jaune stammered, immediately set on edge by the intense look in Fenrir's cold blue eyes.

Fenrir, meanwhile, just sighed in exhaustion.

" _I thought we were past this Jaune."_ Fenrir remarked, already feeling the waves of anxiety and stress rolling off the boy.

He could also sense that immense inner turmoil and conflict that he'd sensed in him a week ago, only it seemed worse now.

" _Something's going on with this boy."_ Fenrir pondered to himself as Jaune just stared at him awkwardly.

He thought he'd been quite patient up to this point, recognising that the Blond was clearly going through something but waiting to see if he would find his own way out of it. However, yesterday Fenrir had sensed that the rest of Jaune's team were also starting to be affected by Jaune's presence… or lack thereof.

He wasn't sure why, but that was ultimately made him come to the decision that he had run out of patience where Jaune was concerned.

"What is going on with you, Jaune Arc?" Fenrir said simply and quickly.

Jaune meanwhile, visibly recoiled from the Grimm's curt question.

"W-What do you mean?" Jaune asked warily, already not liking where this was going as Fenrir's eyes continued to bore into him, "Nothing's going on."

"Jaune," Fenrir rumbled, taking slow strides towards the boy to prevent him from just running off as he was no doubt thinking of doing, "You know Grimm have the ability to sense the negative emotions of other creatures, yes?"

The blond was thrown off by the sudden topic shift, but nodded his head quickly, trying to ignore the small beads of sweat that were starting to form on the back of his neck.

"Deceit, is an inherently negative trait." Fenrir continued, backing Jaune up against a wall, "Which means I know when someone is lying. And you are Jaune. So I'll ask again, what is going on?"

The last part of that sentence was all but a growl as the Alpha leaned in slightly to get very close to Jaune's face.

Fenrir would be lying if he said he didn't get a slight thrilling sensation run down his spine as he felt the other boys fear start to come pouring out of him.

But just when he thought Jaune would finally blurt out what was troubling him, if only to get away from the Wolf Demon, Jaune's scroll chimed obnoxiously and startled them both.

Scrambling to retrieve his scroll, Jaune almost seemed to forget the scowling Grimm that was looming above him. When the boy read the message he'd received, his face surprisingly hardened and Fenrir felt a whole new wave of emotions come flowing out of the boy.

"Fenrir," Jaune spoke in an even tone, his eyes almost as dull as the Grimm's own, "It's really, none of your business. I'm fine, now please just leave me alone."

And before Fenrir could protest, Jaune quickly manoeuvred past his hulking frame and jogged off out of sight.

Fenrir looked down the hallway with wide eyes. Fenrir was used to that kind of abrasive response from Weiss, but Jaune was usually very mild-mannered.

To get that extreme of a response from him, was more troubling than Fenrir would ever care to admit.

" _This is more serious than I thought. Just what has that boy gotten himself mixed up in."_

Fenrir furiously racked his brain, trying to find something, anything that stood out as a possible reason for why Jaune's mood had taken a swan dive these past couple of weeks. But in the end, he came up blank, simply not having enough evidence to get a clear picture.

" _Grrrgghh, it's so frustrating, this whole not knowing nonsense. Well fine then, if he doesn't want to talk, that's his problem."_

Fenrir stood and fumed for a few seconds, before letting his shoulders sag and turning to carry on walking the way he was going.

Unfortunately, today wasn't quite done with giving the Alpha a fresh set of headaches.

"HEY, WOLFY!"

Fenrir cringed slightly as he recognised a distinctly feminine voice call out to him with that insufferable nickname.

Looking over his shoulder, Fenrir spotted a beret covering brown and caramel coloured hair that could only belong to one Coco Adel. Behind her, he could just make out the timid form of Velvet, jogging slightly to keep up with her leaders confident strides.

" _Oh what now!"_ Fenrir despaired as he saw the woman gradually get closer towards him.

"So I hear you've been throwing fists with that group of meat-heads who've been terrorising my teammate here?" Coco got straight to the point before she'd even got in front of the hulking Demon, a fire in her eyes that would have caused lesser men to cower in fear.

Fenrir, meanwhile, was just trying to figure out what on earth the girl was talking about. Looking towards Velvet who was just watching the altercation with an apprehensive look, Fenrir eventually figured out just what he was being questioned on.

" _Ah, my fight against Cardin and his team. That must be what she's talking about."_

"Yes, I did." Fenrir said briskly, seeing no reason to feign ignorance against this girl, though questioning why his stopping Cardin from bullying Velvet would be a cause for annoyance for this shades-wearing female.

"Why?" Was the response the Beowolf got.

And what a question that was. Fenrir still wasn't sold on the idea that he'd done it because he was actually a good person at heart, but he couldn't really think of any other reason why he did what he did.

"Because it wasn't right," Fenrir eventually got out, "They were terrorising her for no reason, just because she was different from them. And… I owed her after she assisted me when I first came to Vale."

That got a larger reaction out of the leader of team CFVY, who turned around to shoot a look at her friend. Velvet smiled sheepishly and held her arm with her opposite hand in discomfort.

"Well, that's a conversation for later," Coco mumbled to herself, before turning back to address the Grimm in front of her, her expression noticeably less intense than before, "Well, that's annoying."

Fenrir cocked an incredulous eyebrow at that.

" _How is my helping your Teammate an annoyance?"_

"I wanted to thrash those little punks myself, and a Grimm beat me to it." Coco remarked as she shook her head and… smiled?

Now Fenrir was just really confused as his negative radar felt nothing from the girl. She just, wasn't mad at him anymore.

"Did you get em good?" She asked with a sly glint in her eye as she looked at him over her shades.

Fenrir blinked at the sudden moodswing this girl had presented him, but decided he already preferred it to the hostility he had before.

"I… did send one of them through the ceiling" Fenrir recounted slowly, his pride preening at the fond memory.

"Nice." Coco complimented sincerely, before adopting a more serious expression, "I kept telling Vel to call me if they were ever giving her trouble. I just wish I'd been there, who knows I might have held some of them down for you, so you could just beat them harder."

Fenrir nodded his at head at that, now finding himself starting to like the confidence and bravado this girl displayed.

Velvet had stealthily walked up to stand beside her leader who shot her one last look.

"Well Velvet, your verdict?" She asked, "Can I trust this guy?"

The Rabbit jumped slightly as she realised she was being addressed, before getting a hold of herself as best she could.

"He's… a little rough around the edges" She said honestly, "But, I think he's got a good heart in him. You can trust him Coco."

Coco just huffed good-naturedly and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"A GOOD Grimm." She said wistfully.

"I'm not good." Fenrir replied tersely, "I just do what I have to do."

Unfazed, Coco carried on with a cocky smirk.

"So, you just HAD to swoop in and protect my precious little Velvet."

"Hhmmmpphhh." Fenrir grunted in annoyance as Velvet just buried her face in her hands.

The girls looked like they were done with the conversation with the Alpha as Coco nodded her head approvingly at Fenrir.

"Well I suppose you can count this as my way of saying thanks and…" Coco stopped suddenly, for as she nodded her head, she finally took note of what the Grimm was wearing, and her nose scrunched up in visible disgust, "…Oh, oh no. Oh what are you wearing?!"

" _Loose grey sweatshirt, Baggy jeans, dirty boots and… Oh WHAT IS THAT JACKET?!"_

"Seriously," Coco voiced her thoughts aloud as she grabbed the zip of Fenrir's faded leather jacket, "Did you pick this out of a dumpster or something?"

"H-HEY!" Fenrir exclaimed indignantly as he swatted Coco's hand away.

" _Seriously, why does everyone have a bad word to say against my jacket?"_

Coco seemed to think to herself for a moment, before letting a small grin cross her face and a look in her eyes that made Velvet sigh from pre-emptive exhaustion.

" _Well… I guess I know what I'm doing today."_

"Okay!" Coco shouted exuberantly, "How's about this Wolf-boy, as thanks for helping out one of my team, I get you some fresh duds that make you look like you haven't just come in off the streets. Sound good?"

Fenrir blinked, before wildly throwing his hands up and shaking his head.

"What? W-wait, no…"

"Great!" Coco exclaimed, not hearing a word of the Grimm's protests, "I'll have you looking like a proper teenager in no time, and not like one of those grease covered bikers from those old movies Fox likes."

At this, Coco took a step towards the Grimm and more closely inspected his form and figure. Fenrir didn't know why, but there was a strange look in the girls eyes now as they roamed across his body.

A look he couldn't even begin to figure out the meaning behind, but it was definitely one he'd never seen from a Human before.

" _It's like she's sizing me up, but not for a fight… So what then?"_

"Gotta say Fenrir," Coco said quietly as she held a hand on Fenrir's arms, immediately feeling the tense, hard muscle underneath, "For a former monster… You do have good bone structure."

That statement made the final puzzle piece slot itself into Fenrir's brain.

" _Oh, oh for the love of… Well, can safely say I never saw myself having to deal with this kind of situation."_

Whilst Fenrir groaned internally, Coco continued to list off the Alpha's physical attributes.

"Symmetrical face, piercing eyes, vibrant hair, strong teeth. Yeah, I can work with this." Coco nodded to herself before firmly gripping Fenrir's sleeve and dragging him down the corridor with surprising strength.

"W-WAIT, WHERE ARE WE GOING!" Fenrir exclaimed in mild panic as he found himself completely at the mercy of the older girl.

Velvet tagged along, offering Fenrir a sympathetic look and a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"There's no getting through to her when she's like this" She explained softly, "It'll be easier for you if you just go with it."

The firm grip on his arm, and the wise words of the Rabbit Faunus next to him, made Fenrir's resistance to the whole thing lessen slightly. Still though, he allowed a low growl of tired irritation to slip past his lips as he all but dragged his feet along the hallways of Beacon.

" _Why do I keep getting dragged into these things?"_

… _._

It turns out, where they were going was into the commercial district of Vale. After first going through the tedious process with professor Goodwitch to even allow him out of the academy [With several promises from both Coco and Velvet to keep an eye on him at all times], the group of three had taken the first airbus out of Beacon and straight into the city.

From there, all sights and sounds blurred together in the Grimm's mind as he was all but hauled from one clothing shop to another.

Eventually, the fashion-conscious girl decided to go to one of her favourites and see what they could find there. Once it was quickly determined that Fenrir had absolutely no sense of style, Coco quickly took off by herself to disappear into the aisles stuffed to the brim with clothing.

Leaving a very put out wolf and a slightly exasperated rabbit to sit by themselves in the corner.

"There's really no need for this." Fenrir grumbled to himself, not expecting to be heard.

"I know," Velvet replied, her ears effortlessly picking up Fenrir's annoyed mutterings, "But she was planning to do this for you anyway."

Fenrir snapped his head toward Velvet, surprise clearly visible on his face.

"What?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I told her about what happened in the cafeteria weeks ago," the girl explained, "I guess she saw you walking down the hallway and just remembered I guess."

Fenrir looked down at the floor and frowned deeply. So it turns out, that girl had been planning to give him a wardrobe change from the very start. The Alpha tugged at the thin grey fabric that made up his sweatshirt and tried to scrutinise it the best he could.

" _It… It's not THAT bad is it?"_

Before Fenrir could get too comfortable with the lack of movement, the leader of team CFVY returned, carrying so many clothes on hangers that it was a wonder she hadn't folded in half under the weight.

" _Another one who's stronger than they appear then."_

"Okay!" Coco cried out enthusiastically, "I think I'm starting to get a picture in my head for what you'll look good in."

Before she could look too proud of herself, she looked back at what the Beowolf was currently wearing and visibly turned her nose up in disgust.

"Of course," She muttered slowly, "There's still the matter of… that THING you're draping across your shoulders."

Coco pointed towards the leather like it had just verbally insulted her. Velvet started to fidget nervously in her seat as Fenrir's expression turned stormy.

"What are you suggesting?" The Grimm growled out.

"Come on Fenrir," Coco said emphatically, "That jacket… it's old and torn in places, it's a miracle it's lasted as long as it has."

Fenrir couldn't exactly deny that, not without looking like a simpleton. It was old, visibly showing signs of wear and tear. But still, this simple piece of clothing brought a certain comforting feel to the otherwise riled up Alpha.

So he removed the jacket from his form, and handed it out towards the girl who backed off a little from his outstretched arm.

"Then fix it." He ordered.

"What?" The girl in front of him asked.

"I am not getting rid of it, it's mine. So either fix it or leave it alone."

Fenrir's dark blue eyes bored past Coco's shades and found her own dark brown orbs. He was not arguing this, that much was obvious, so the girl took a moment to debate to herself, before eventually sighing loudly and looking past her shoulder.

"Hey!" She yelled out, catching the attention of what appeared to be the owner of the store, "Don't suppose you could work you magic on Mr Stubborns coat over here?"

The older woman turned a calculating eye towards the aforementioned article, still being held out in Fenrir's hand.

"That looks like one of those old 'Dustcati' models from about… twenty years ago," The owner said as she analysed the jacket, "Wherever did you find such an old thing?"

Fenrir immediately grew uncomfortable as he didn't relish the idea of telling these people that he'd picked it out of the trash.

"Just… found it one day… in my house."

The lie was painful, even to Fenrir, but thankfully the woman didn't question it as she opened her hands and the Grimm deposited the jacket into her waiting arms.

"Not to worry Miss Adel," The owner proclaimed, nodding her head slightly, "I've worked with worse in the past, I should be able to restore some life back to this in no time at all."

"Fantastic" Coco said happily, before turning back to the pile of clothes she'd gathered from earlier, "Right, now lets see, where to start…"

Whilst Coco mumbled to herself, Fenrir returned to his seat and Velvet shot him a curious, questioning look.

"What is it?" He said abruptly, making the smaller girl jolt in her seat in surprise.

"Umm, just well um, I didn't think a Grimm," Velvet whispered on the word 'Grimm', "Would care so much about a jacket. It's confusing I guess."

Fenrir shot a look towards the bunny-eared girl, his senses picking up a lingering thread of tension and nervousness dwelling within her. She wasn't scared of him like she had been, but she still didn't fully trust him.

For some reason, that aggravated him.

So, with a familiar, tired look in his eye, the Wolf leaned back in his chair and began to explain the confusing reason why he kept that jacket around.

"Velvet," He said, his tone changing to that deep rumble that sent shivers down Velvets spine, "I got that jacket during my first week of being Human, you remember?"

Velvet nodded at his question, then Fenrir continued.

"I found it an alleyway, on top a pile of cardboard in a dumpster. I could smell that it was made from the hide of an animal. It was big and bulky. It… it reminded me of… my old body."

Fenrir felt the words turn thick and heavy in his mouth, before eventually he just stopped talking and stared down at his limp hands. Velvet meanwhile was gazing up at the Grimm with an all new understanding.

"Oh, I get it," She whispered softly, placing a hand on the boys arm, "You wear it because it makes you feel safe, don't you?"

Fenrir's face twisted up in embarrassment, before he gave a tiny nod.

"Basically, yes."

The Alpha continued to squirm at his awkward admittance of needing a piece of fabric just to make himself feel comfortable in his own body. Velvet meanwhile actually gave a soft smile towards the wolf.

" _That's… actually kind of cute."_

"Hey," She said with a comforting lilt to her voice, the last time Fenrir had heard it like that was when he'd had that fit in the alleyway, "If it makes you feel better, you shouldn't be embarrassed by it. Though it is nice to know your not as scary as everyone thinks you are."

Fenrir looked at Velvet with a surprised expression. But his face shifted to a small smile of his own, a glint of playfulness sparking in his eyes.

"How dare you," He said shrewdly, "I'm the most terrifying guy you'll ever meet."

Velvet let out a small laugh, seeing that Fenrir wasn't being at all serious. For a moment just sat there, neither realising that they had both relaxed in each other's presence.

Whatever lingering tension there'd been between the two, was now dust in the wind.

"Okay!" Coco suddenly yelled out, snapping both of them out of the moment they were in, "I think we're ready to begin, but first…"

It was then that Fenrir realised that Coco was holding a tape measurer and had a hungry, almost predatory look in her eyes.

The same look she'd given him when she'd been complimenting his body.

"… We need to get some 'measurements'."

Fenrir's eyes shrunk to pinpricks as he felt like he was caught in a spiders web.

" **OH TIVAR OFAN IZISH ORKA."** He muttered under his breath.

[Gods give me strength]

….

When Fenrir returned to Beacon, he found himself requiring a strong coffee after the… ordeal he'd just been through.

" _That Coco woman is certainly very… handsy."_ He thought, putting it mildly even in his own head.

Upon entry to the now familiar Breakroom, Fenrir found himself in the company of Yang and Weiss, both too preoccupied with whatever they were doing to notice Fenrir's initial entry.

However Yang eventually looked up from her scroll at the sounds of someone shuffling about. The blonde took one look at the exhausted Beowolf and let out a long whistle, nodding in approval as her eyes roved across Fenrir's form.

"Nice threads Fenrir." Yang called out in her boisterous tone that instantly had Weiss looking up at her in irritation.

Indeed, Fenrir was now in an entirely new outfit [Though his original clothes were back in his room, resized to fit him better] consisting of a red flannel shirt, light blue jeans with purposefully torn holes in the knee areas, chunky brown boots, a black and silver belt and a brown leather coat with white fur lining.

On closer inspection, Yang could make out the Grimm was also wearing a simple silver necklace. The centre of the necklace had a circle with what appeared to be two pine trees in the middle of the circle.

"I feel violated!" Fenrir growled in response to Yang's praise.

After that Fenrir didn't respond to Yang's presence, his mind much more focused on getting some precious coffee into his system. Weiss, however, also took note of Fenrir's new clothes and took on a far more shocked expression.

"Those clothes look very expensive Fenrir." She exclaimed loudly, causing Fenrir's ears to twitch slightly from discomfort, "How did you get those?"

"Coco got them for me." Fenrir replied quickly, eager to end the conversation, "She did it to repay me for assisting Velvet in the cafeteria weeks ago."

" _Still don't know WHY she waited so long to do this, but at this point I think I'll just accept that all these Humans are weird and just leave it at that."_

"Aw, well that was nice of her." Yang said sincerely, before her face took on a more flirtatious look as she scanned the boy up and down.

"Gotta say, I'm liking the new look."

Fenrir's head slowly turned toward the fellow brawler and he frowned disbelievingly.

"I've already had to put up with one pervert today, I don't need another."

" _She just would not stop staring at my chest when I took my shirt off!"_ Fenrir despaired to himself.

Yang laughed in response, causing Weiss to glare scornfully at her.

"Ah, that would be Coco I guess?" Yang asked with a knowing look, "Can't say I blame her though. Once she realised your not such a bad guy, she was bound to notice your… features."

"Ggrrhbhrbhrrggrrrllgrmbrrggh" Fenrir seethed as he roughly snatched a mug off the counter.

"Don't grumble Fenrir." Weiss admonished, "It's not dignified or clever."

Yang giggled as she could see the Grimm visibly straining to contain his anger, before he let out a resigned puff of air and walked towards the couch they were both on, fresh brew in hand.

It was then that Yang noticed that Fenrir was also carrying a large brown paper bag.

"Sooooo, what's in that?" She asked, pointing a finger at the object in question.

At this, the Grimm's expression turned somewhat proud as he dove a hand into the bag and brought out the item held within.

It was his jacket, only now it looked like it had just come fresh off the shelf.

Fenrir could vividly recall his amazement when he'd seen what the woman had done to his jacket. The leather had been cleaned and given a fresh, lustrous black finish, the tears and seams had been re-stitched. Even the zipper had been polished to the point where it gleamed slightly.

"Good as new" He said to himself, Yang just gazing in awe at the re-vitalized piece of clothing.

Weiss, meanwhile, looked up from her notes and took on an expression similar to Coco's at the sight of the splayed-out jacket.

"Here I was hoping that if you'd gone clothes shopping, that you would have gotten rid of that thing."

A moment of silence passed.

And then Fenrir exploded in pent up frustration, sending Yang almost diving to the floor.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" He yelled, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS JACKET!?"

It was said, that nearly all of Beacon academy could hear the ensuing argument between the Ice Queen and the Wolf Demon.

With Yang Xiao-long, the deaf witness to it all.

…..

 _Sunday_

"RAGGHH… GRARRGGHH… HAAAA… RAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!"

Fenrir yelled out in exertion and anger as he cleaved through his opponents with ruthless efficiency. He was in one of the training arenas dotted around the school, and currently he was putting Frostbite to work, having it carve and slice through several metallic bodies.

It had initially confused Fenrir when he had seen the dozens of steel Automatons sitting in the corner of the sparring ring, but a passing Headmaster [because OF COURSE Ozpin just happened to be passing by at that point] quickly instructed him on how to use the machines and even how to adjust the difficulty settings on them.

So with that, Fenrir had spent the past hour sending wave after wave of the simple machines towards himself, so he could promptly slice them into pieces.

By this point, every muscle in his body burned, his lungs taking in huge amounts of oxygen as sweat poured off of his body. Yet still he kept at it, relishing in his rage and letting it envelop him fully for what felt like the first time in a long time.

No holding back required.

A machine swung a simple sword at Fenrir's head, which he effortlessly blocked before bringing his other arm up to chop the robots arm off.

The severed limb sparked and fizzed, but the robots face was as blank and impassive as all the others. Fenrir snarled in disgust before he quickly stabbed Frostbites blades through the machines head. The robot instantly went limp and crumpled to the floor.

The Grimmborn had fought machines before, mostly when he'd been hunting near the kingdom of Atlas, and like all Grimm he despised these creations of man almost as much as he despised man themselves.

" _They have no soul. No blood, no flesh, just metal and circuits, no life to them at all. Existing only to serve a master, no will of their own. Just lifeless, empty husks."_

One last machine tried to get the jump on him, but Fenrir simply turned his arm up and fired a revolver shot into the robots head.

Shrapnel and fluid sprayed out everywhere and the machine joined the rest of the growing junk pile surrounding the exhausted Alpha.

With the last robot destroyed, silence descended upon the training arena, save only for Fenrir's panting as he hunched over. His blades were stained blue from the machines coolant, but they still hummed slightly with quiet power.

" _I hate machines!"_ Fenrir fumed, _"But I will admit, they do give a good workout."_

"Woah, you enjoying yourself in here big guy?"

Had it not been for the fact that Fenrir was tired, he would have been startled at the presence of a new voice coming from the otherwise empty room. As it was he just slowly gazed up at the new arrivals with half-lidded eyes.

It was team RWBY, all carrying their weapons and looking around the small arena with stunned expressions. It was Yang who had asked the question, judging from the way she was looking at him directly.

"It… has been… good exercise." Fenrir gasped out, feeling his legs shake slightly.

"How long have you been in here?" Weiss asked next, fearful of taking any more steps into the room in case Fenrir smelt from all the work.

"I… do not know." Fenrir said after a while.

"Well Uhhh, is it alright if we use the room for a bit?" Ruby asked next, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly, "I mean if you're still going that's fine, we can just find another spot its no big deal don't' wanna get in your way or anyth…"

"No," Fenrir wheezed, cutting off Ruby's breathless elaborating and bringing his blades back into their sheath with their trademark 'SHNNK', "Nah, I'm done here. Let me just clear the floor."

"No need Fenrir." Weiss dictated, stopping Fenrir mid-step as she brought her hand out in front of herself.

All at once, several of Weiss's large glyphs appeared around the floor, picked up all of the robot remains, gathered in them in to one huge pile of scrap metal, and shoved the pile into a corner.

"Huh," Fenrir huffed, before nodding his head to the Heiress, "Nice one."

Weiss nodded politely at the praise, whilst Fenrir dragged his heavy body up to the viewing area above.

The four girls made no comment on Fenrir's decision to stay and watch. Instead, Ruby turned to her teammates, face beaming with positive energy as she stood Crescent Rose up to attention by her side.

"Okay gang! We've only got a few more days until the big field trip to Forever Fall, so we need to be ready for anything."

" _Oh yeah, Goodwitch mentioned we'd be doing that earlier this week"_ Fenrir remembered suddenly, his brain struggling with higher thought right now, _"I wonder if I'll even be allowed to go. Oum knows I'd be grateful to get outside of these Human boundaries even for just a short while… Just to feel fresh air on my face once more."_

Before Fenrir could get too lost in his reminiscing of a better time in his life, Weiss cut Ruby's motivational speech off and insisted they all just get to work.

Refocusing his attention on what was in front of him, Fenrir shook his head and watched as the four girls stood apart from one another and prepared for what was coming next.

Not long after, a fresh wave of sparring robots emerged onto the ring, some carrying simple swords, others pointing guns, all as lifeless as each other.

"Readyyy," Ruby called out as she got into her own battle stance, "Annnnnd, BEGIN!"

All at once the four girls leapt into combat, and the sounds of clashing steel, shotgun blasts and elemental discharges rang out across the room.

Fenrir was immediately mesmerised. It was clear just from looking at them that these four Huntresses in training were miles ahead of where he was combat wise.

" _Very well then."_ Fenrir resolved to himself looking upon the four with a hardened edge to his eyes, _"They are the goal. I will keep pushing myself until I'm as strong as them."_

As Fenrir continued to watch them, he began to pick up on the fact that each of them had a distinctly unique fighting style.

Blake was acrobatic and graceful, twirling her twin Ribbon blades around her in wide arcs that cut several Robots in half in an instant.

Weiss was poised, elegant, and constantly switching up her attack pattern between her sword, her glyphs and her Dust.

Yang was explosive and brutal, letting her fists send the machines flying across the room and then quickly moving on to face her next opponent up close and personal.

And Ruby. Ruby was fast, staggeringly quick as she raced across the battlefield and the size of her scythe made it so that any machines that were near the red blur were quickly reduced to shining pieces of shrapnel.

Fenrir couldn't help but still wince slightly every time he caught so much as a glimpse of those familiar red petals. Tiny twinges of fear made themselves known every time he saw them flutter through the air.

" _Those damn petals!"_

A few moments passed, and Ruby took note of how Fenrir was intently watching them from his elevated position, his eyes constantly darting from person to person and his ears twitching occasionally as well.

At the sight, Ruby got an idea and took a step back, a giddy smile already on her face.

" _Lets see how he likes this."_

"Quick!" Ruby yelled, pointing a finger forward dramatically, "BUMBLEBEE!"

There was a moment of hesitation, but then both Yang and Blake had a moment of realisation and looked towards each other and nodded confidently.

Reeling back, Blake shot one of her blades towards where Yang was standing. The Blonde grabbed the end of the long strand of ribbon and then took off in a dead sprint in a circle around the disguised Faunus.

Pulling Gambol Shroud taut, Blake spun in place to match Yang's speed and then, just at the right moment, flung the now brightly glowing Yang towards the last few robots still standing.

Yang flew like a bullet towards the hunks of metal and threw a punch so devastating that all of the remaining machines were reduced to parts and pieces, a blast of heat punctuating their demise as Yang's Aura flared out brilliantly.

Fenrir just stared open mouthed in shock.

" _WHAT WAS THAT!?"_ He yelled inside his skull.

After shaking himself out of his stunned stupor, Fenrir vaulted over the barrier and jogged up to the regrouped team, Ruby standing before the rest of them to congratulate them.

"Good job Girls." The silver-eyed girl proclaimed happily, "That team attack at the end was the best it's ever looked."

Blake and Yang nodded in agreement, both remembering the first time they'd tried that particular move and had both wound up tied up in Blakes ribbon.

An embarrassing moment to be sure, but an endless source of humour for Yang.

"Hmm, I mistimed a backflip early on, it was sloppy." Weiss criticised herself, pursing her lips slightly.

"What was that... thing you two did at the end?" Fenrir cut them all off as he stomped up to them loudly.

"Ah yes." Ruby said with a deservedly proud face as she could still see the awe twinkling inf the Grimm's eyes, "We've been coming up with team attacks in-between lessons, I figured it would help us all bond closer together as a team."

" _Team attacks huh?"_ Fenrir pondered on the idea as he looked towards Blake and Yang.

"Why Bumblebee though?" He asked.

Last he checked, Blake was a Cat Faunus not a Bee, so there was no connection there.

"It's our colours Fenrir." Blake explained, "I'm black, Yang is yellow, together we're…"

"BUMBLEBEE!" Yang cried out boisterously, slamming her Gauntlets together, "it's also the name of my motorcycle, so I liked it from the start."

At this revelation, Weiss let out a tired sigh.

"Of course you have a motorcycle."

"Hey," Yang turned to the Heiress with a suddenly serious look, "Don't be dissing my Bumblebee."

Such was the intensity of Yang's look, that Weiss actually did back off. Fenrir meanwhile nodded to himself before turning back to face Ruby with a genuine smile.

"That's really impressive Ruby." He said, "You and your team seem to work together really well from what I could see."

Ruby was still for a moment. Fenrir's smiles were usually wide, stretched, somewhat terrifying things. This smile was different, it was smaller, more honest, and made his face look ten times more alive and youthful.

A flush of heat ghosted across her face, before it quickly disappeared, and she beamed back up at the Alpha.

"Yeah, we do don't we?"

Fenrir nodded before turning back to face the rest of the team.

"Do you have any others?" he asked them all.

"Well there is one with myself and Blake" Weiss said as she looked at the girl in question, "But we still haven't decided on a name."

"We were thinking of 'Monochrome'," Blake elaborated, "But that's too long to say in a fight."

"Plus it just sounds boring." Ruby finished off, causing an argument to start between the Heiress and the Reaper.

The Grimm meanwhile just looked between the two girls and his mind started to draw connections between the two.

" _One dresses in White, the other in black. White… black… Weiss… Blake."_

Suddenly, a memory resurfaced in the Beowolf's mind, a memory from a few days ago. In the library, when he'd played that game of chess against the white-haired girl.

And the term for the final move used that finished the game.

"I've said from the start I thought the naming of our attacks was silly." Weiss proclaimed haughtily, "And furthermore…"

"Checkmate."

Everyone froze as they all turned towards the gruff male as he looked back at them with a tentative glance.

"What?" Ruby asked, not sure if she'd heard him right.

"Why not Checkmate?" Fenrir reiterated, "It matches their colours, plus I think they're the smartest members of your team."

"Ouch." Yang replied in mock offense, holding a hand on her chest.

"Actually," Blake drawled out slowly, "I kind of like it."

"Hmm," Weiss took a moment to think to herself, before also nodding in satisfaction, "Yes I suppose it is rather fitting. And it's not like we have many other options."

"Alright, way to go Fenrir!" Ruby hopped in the air and lightly jabbed Fenrir in the arm.

The Grimm just let out a small string of growls, feeling that comforting warmth spread through his system again.

When he looked back up, he saw the four of them were talking amongst themselves again, oblivious to the way Fenrir was looking at them with a warm expression.

" _Those four have an incredibly strong bond already, in just a short amount of time."_

Fenrir had been with many packs in the past, but it had always been an alliance of convenience, meant to only be temporary before they all went their separate ways to their next hunts.

" _How does it make you feel Fenrir?"_ The soft voice asked him in a coy nature that Fenrir could hear.

It didn't stop him from answering though.

" _I want that."_ He realised, _"I want to be a part of that. I want that warmth, that light."_

"Hey Wolfy," Yang called out, snapping Fenrir out of his new batch of thoughts, "Got any more ideas you can bounce off us?"

He didn't, but that didn't stop him from joining them in their little circle, suddenly eager to be included, to belong.

" _Huh, guess I'm starting to warm up to these Humans. Even if they are a little crazy."_

 **A/N: So… I've been away a while.**

 **Terribly sorry for leaving you guys as long as I did. I guess I just kind of lost my flow with this story, plus Christmas is a busy time of year for me and Volume 6 has been giving lots of new information to work with.**

 **But, I'm back, and I don't intend on leaving a long gap like this ever again. I'm fired up and ready to get back to it. I can only hope this extra long chapter makes up for it a little. This chapter was made to show how Fenrir is taking steps to improve himself, because that's something I've always liked in characters, self improvement.**

 **Next chapter is going to be Forever Fall, so that'll definitely come out a lot quicker than this one.**

 **Also, in case you missed it, the chapter before this one is the Q/A so if you haven't checked that out yet, give it a look.**

 **That's all guys, see you soon [And I mean that this time].**

 **Fenrir's alternate outfit: Woodsmoke.**

 **Flannel shirt: .**

 **Jeans: shop/uk/p/advanced-stretch-stacked-skinny-jeans-12805082?categoryId=61987050 &faceout=model**

 **Boots:** **. /shop/en/tbl-uk/men-footwear-boots/icon-6-inch-premium-boot-for-men-in-brown-10001214#hero=0**

 **Coat: Bomber-Aviator-Shearling-Sheepskin-Leather/dp/B078NHJ28S**

 **Necklace: Sterling-silver-necklace-Mountain-Travelers/dp/B01EZLC3IQ**


	27. Chapter 27: Forever fall part 1

**A/N: So something that kind of slipped my attention, but it's already been one year since I uploaded the first chapter of Grimm Fate. Time does fly huh? So this a belated thank you to all those who've been following this story for the past year and I hope even more of you will join me for our second year. Let's begin!**

 **Also, because one link has to not work, just look up 'Red long sleeve flannel shirt' and you'll get the idea.**

Night fell in it's usual manner, darkening the skies and quieting the earth below, beckoning all under the moons gaze to return to rest, ready for whatever challenges tomorrow would bring.

For the first-years of Beacon academy, tomorrow would be extra challenging as they were all being transported beyond the safety of the walls of Beacon to a place known as "Forever fall Forest". Once there they would be assigned an as yet unknown task to complete.

For some, like the members of team RWBY, this was a time of excitement, eagerness for what challenges tomorrow would bring. Their leader especially could hardly get to sleep as she was too full of energy.

For others like team JNPR however, their minds were occupied with more serious matters.

That matter being obvious when one realised that there were currently only three of the four members in their dorm at the time.

Pyrrha was staring out the window, a troubled expression on her face as she reflected on the past few weeks. Ren was sitting cross-legged on his bed, tending to Storm Flower dutifully. And Nora was also on her bed, bouncing on top of it like a trampoline.

It was times like these where Pyrrha found herself envying the hammer-wielding Huntress-to-be. Looking at her, she didn't seem to have a care in the world. Yet despite they're outward appearance, both Ren and Nora were equally aware of the problem that their team was suffering through.

That being the absence of their leader Jaune Arc. Ever since Pyrrha's failed attempt to give Jaune some guidance, the Blond boy had become more and more withdrawn from his teammates, constantly disappearing off to they could only guess where.

And the more that time passed, the more Pyrrha found herself becoming less worried and more frustrated with the boy's apparent dismissal of his team.

"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora eventually piped up, breaking up the monotony of the quiet room. Well, quiet except for the straining bedsprings as Nora continued to hop up and down on the mattress.

"He's become rather scarce ever since he's been fraternizing with Cardin." Ren stated matter-of-factly, keeping his eyes trained on his guns to hide just how concerned he actually was with the matter.

He said Fraternizing because that was how it appeared to the team. Jaune had seemingly spent more time with Cardin Winchester and his team, than he had with his own team.

To say that didn't sting, would be a bold-faced lie of the highest order.

"That's weird," Nora exclaimed as she pouted almost childishly, "Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our… REST!"

On the word rest, Nora tucked up into a ball in mid air and then landed like a starfish on her bed, giving the worn-out springs a merciful reprieve from their assault.

"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." Pyrrha said, unable to hide the bitter tone in her voice as she kept her gaze firmly set outside.

She didn't like feeling like this, feeling angry with her leader, but how could she not be given his recent behaviour.

She understood how he wanted to live up to his ancestors and all their great deeds, but trying to go at it alone the way he was was just foolish in her eyes.

"Hmmm." Nora hummed quietly as she caught Pyrrha's stormy expression and turned to share a look between herself and her oldest friend.

Ren just shook his head with a miniscule shake, unable to offer anything that might alleviate the spartan girl's sour mood. All the two of them could do was hope that in time, whatever problem was going on with Jaune would eventually sort itself out, however unlikely that might seem.

"I guess so…" The smaller red-head said in a resigned manner.

After that, conversation came to a sudden halt, all three of them unsure as to what to say in the now sombre mood that they were all stuck in.

As Pyrrha continued to look out the thin pane of glass, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a shadowy figure bounding along the rooftops. The low lighting made it difficult to tell, but the sight of a bushy tail and pointed ears made it unquestionable as to the identity of the night-time prowler.

By this point, both teams RWBY and JNPR knew about or had seen Fenrir during his evening escapades. Looking across at the swiftly moving figure, Pyrrha could only sigh tiredly as her body slumped forward slightly.

" _It's a long shot, but I don't suppose you have any idea what's going on?"_ The girl asked in her head rhetorically, aware that there was no idea the Grimm could hear her.

…..

Unbeknownst to the three members of team JNPR, their leader was actually listening in on their conversation, having just returned from the library to finish off his own Dust project, after finishing up Cardin's.

The past few weeks had been nothing short of hell on earth for the scraggly Blond boy. Taking care of his own course work had been bad enough, but now he had to do all of the brutish leader of team CRDL's as well.

Every day left Jaune feeling like he was standing on a razors edge, knowing at any point Cardin might just get bored with keeping Jaune under his boot heel and tell Ozpin or Goodwitch or any teacher in Beacon that he was nothing more than a fraud who had cheated his way into the most renowned academy in Vale.

Though, looking at his team and their down faces, his partners body language tense and her voice terse, he found himself wondering if expulsion was maybe what he deserved at this point.

" _This is my fault. If I'd just swallowed my pride for one second, none of this might have happened. How much longer can I keep this up?"_

Jaune honestly could not find an answer to that question. He'd been seeing his team less and less over the past several days, though maybe that was for the best as when he did see them they would always ask what was keeping him away from them.

He could see the hurt in their eyes clear as day, and it was like a punch in the gut every time. Worst of all was Pyrrha, she'd completely stopped interacting with him, taking his rejection of her help quite poorly it would seem.

" _Can't say I blame her."_ Jaune remarked bitterly as he closed the door to his teams room quietly, not feeling like entering anymore, _"Maybe I should just save everyone the trouble and go up to Goodwitch's office myself. Not like anyone would miss a screw-up like me."_

"Hey Jaune." A cheerful voice called out from behind the Blond.

"Guh!" Jaune exclaimed as he was abruptly shaken out of his downward spiralling thoughts.

Turning around, Jaune found himself standing in front of the Ruby Rose, her teams dorm directly opposite his own. She was already dressed in her night-time attire, eye mask and all and looked to be getting ready to go to sleep herself.

"Long time no see" She said cheerfully before pointing at the door behind Jaune, "Did you lock yourself out again?"

"OH uh, Nope!" Jaune exclaimed, trying to ignore the burning feeling in his ears from where he was sure they were turning red from embarrassment. He was already in a frazzled mood, being reminded of that little blunder from the start of the year certainly wasn't helping.

"Heh, Got it." Jaune said as he fished out his scroll to show the younger girl that he had not locked himself out of his own room.

A brief flicker of something flittered across Ruby's silver eyes, before it was quickly hidden away as she continued to keep up her unsuspecting persona. It wasn't just Jaune's team that were feeling down, Ruby and her teammates had all witnessed Jaune crop up less and less in their little group of friends, even the Beowolf had noticed and had tried to get answers out of the lanky teen, with less than success.

" _He probably tried to scare the information out of him."_ Ruby surmised, _"But I know Jaune, that approach would only get him to clam up more. So, I'll try a more relaxed approach, maybe that'll get him to open up."_

"So," Ruby started innocently, "Where have you been lately?"

"I uh…" Jaune said, his voice dying out as he failed to come up with a good excuse for his whereabouts recently.

As he frantically grabbed at straws in his mind, trying to come up with a halfway decent story that would convince the young reaper, Jaune soon let out a defeated sigh as all the past events of the last few weeks came flooding back to him, and he found himself too tired and morose to care about lying anymore.

" _What's the point? Not like I can get myself in anymore trouble. At least I know Ruby wouldn't hang it over my head… Maybe."_

"I messed up." Jaune sighed, "I did something I shouldn't have and now Cardin's got me on a leash and Pyrrha won't even talk to me… I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea."

Jaune lightly bumped his head against the back wall and slumped down to the floor, his eyes unable to meet Ruby's own. It wasn't a full confession by any means, and that thought just made Jaune's self-bitterness rise.

"I'm a failure." Jaune muttered, almost forgetting Ruby was even right in front of him.

The red-head in question had just been watching Jaune patiently, letting his little tirade play out until he finished off with proclaiming himself a failure on the floor.

She didn't have a full picture, but she now had a far better idea of what was plaguing the boy's mind. He felt like he'd failed in some way, and that was causing him to distance himself from his team.

In regards to Cardin, Ruby would love nothing more than to give that bully a piece of her mind. But in the end, she knew it would do no good. Right now what Jaune needed was a confidence boost, or failing that a reality check.

" _But what to say?"_ Ruby thought to herself, thinking carefully about how to best help her fellow team leader and friend.

After a moment of consideration, Ruby eventually found a word that she felt could best get the older boy out of his funk. A word that would finally put an end to all of Jaune's doubts and insecurities, a word that even a mighty Beowolf couldn't argue against.

So with her 'Leader face' on, Ruby began with that all-powerful word.

"Nope."

….

" _Come on, work through the pain Fenrir."_

Fenrir told himself as he spun on the top of a spire only to leap off into a dive roll onto a nearby rooftop. His body was still aching after his workout from earlier today, Pyrrha's regime seemingly getting tougher with each passing day, but he'd gotten into a routine with his night-time escapades and he wasn't about to stop just because of some fatigue.

Besides, he liked to think he was getting better at this. The layout of the academy's roofs was being integrated into his muscle memory, a few more days and he'd be able to visualise the rooftops in his head.

So now, he was trying to challenge himself by mixing things up a little, deviating from his normal route or pushing to even higher leaps and flips.

All in the name of keeping the thrilling feeling of falling through the air alive in his gut.

And then a new way to test his limits came in the form of a curiously wide-open window directly across from his position, a wide gap between him and it.

" _Strange, they're usually all shut by now."_ Fenrir frowned lightly as he regarded the open window with a questioning gaze.

The window was simple in design, but quite big, big enough for a person to stand in if one removed the window pane first. As he continued to look at the oddity, the soft voice that lived in Fenrir's subconscious spoke up, a distinctly encouraging lilt in it's voice that was different from it's normal, peaceful tones.

" _Go on, you can make that jump."_

Fenrir's expression widened slightly in surprise, before looking beneath his feet at the courtyard floor far below him. After taking a second to judge the distance between his body and the now inviting window as it promised him a way to truly see just how far he could push himself, Fenrir nodded to himself.

" _Yeah… Yeah I can make that, easy."_

Not wanting to leave too much to chance, Fenrir backed away from the roofs edge and crouched down low. His legs tensed up as he prepared to spring off with all his strength. His dark blue eyes focused solely on the opening in front of him, the Alpha took one deep, long breath before rocketing forward like he'd just been shot out of a cannon.

His legs propelling him forward at top speed, Fenrir quickly found himself at the edge of the roof again. Not taking even a second to pause, Fenrir jumped into the air, making his body almost horizontal in the air as he crossed the gap in no time.

Seeing the opening quickly approaching, Fenrir held his arms out in front of himself and tried to make himself as narrow as possible.

The Grimm passed through the window without even touching the sides.

Fenrir's body instantly curled into a ball as he made contact with wooden floor and then he stilled into a crouch, letting the silence linger in the darkened hall way for a moment.

Lifting his head up, Fenrir looked behind himself to see that he had just in fact, perfectly leapt through a window and into the building itself.

" _That's what I'm talking about!"_ Fenrir congratulated himself, smiling proudly as he picked himself up off the floor and dusted his jeans down.

Having had his fill of excitement after that little stunt, Fenrir was about to clamber back through the window and make his way back to his room, when it suddenly dawned on him that he'd actually never been inside this building before.

Allowing that impulsive curiosity to rule his thoughts, Fenrir instead took a look around at the hallway he was currently standing in. The wall in front of him was lined with simple white doors stretching on from both sides as far as the Wolf could see. Next to each of the doors was a number and a black pad where one was expected to place their scroll in order to enter into what lay behind the door.

As Fenrir's lupine ears stretched out and caught some quiet voices talking to themselves behind some of the doors, he finally realised where he was.

" _Oh, so these are the student dorms. The ones for the normal people who aren't originally Wolf Demons that is."_

Fenrir walked slowly and quietly throughout the empty corridor, peeking round each corner just in case someone happened to be out of their room. He didn't think anyone would take kindly to his presence in this place, and he'd much rather avoid making a scene this late at night.

As Fenrir carefully walked through the dorm building, his ears occasionally twitching as he caught some muffled conversations behind closed doors, he eventually heard a much louder voice coming from around a corner in front of him.

And it was a voice he recognised almost immediately.

"Nope."

" _Ruby?"_

"Nope?" Another voice joined the silent hallway.

" _And that's Jaune!"_ Fenrir immediately crouched down and slowly peeked his head around the corner, caution compelling him to not voice his arrival to the two.

Sure enough, there the two leaders were, Jaune slumped down on the floor and looking up at the young reaper incredulously.

" _What on earth is she wearing?"_ The Alpha wondered offhandedly, _"I've definitely never seen her wearing that before."_

"Nope," Ruby continued, Fenrir wincing slightly as he now realised the trap Jaune had been encased in, a trap he himself had been unable to escape.

That trap being Ruby's stubbornness.

"You're a leader now Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."

The Beowolf was now fully immersed in what was transpiring before him. It appeared as if the little red-head had finally broken through and gotten to the root of Jaune's sudden change these past few weeks.

" _So that's it, he's worried that he's a failure?"_ Fenrir thought, before shaking his head and frowning slightly, _"No, that can't just be it, he was worried about not meeting expectations before this all happened. So it's gotten worse somehow? How though?"_

Eager for more information, Fenrir pressed himself up to the wall and continued to eavesdrop.

"But, what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asked hesitantly, doubt and guilt swirling around him like black fog.

Looking closer, Fenrir could spot another black void sitting snugly in Jaune's centre. The sight alone sent the Grimm's teeth into an itching frenzy.

" _Okay! I really need to figure out what those… things are. Every time I see them I just want to grab them and rip them to shreds."_

Ruby, meanwhile, seemed to look up to the ceiling in thought, before looking back at the forlorn Blond with a slight smirk.

"Mmm… Nope!"

Surprisingly, Jaune let out a small laugh and the negativity around him started to dissipate slightly.

"You know," He said lightly, "You're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

" _Ain't that the truth."_ Fenrir agreed, still a little miffed from how Ruby had used that same tactic on him, and it had somehow worked.

"Nope." Ruby repeated cheekily, moving to sit down beside the boy as he banged his head against the door behind him.

A moment later, the girl's expression suddenly became surprisingly serious and Fenrir leaned in slightly so as to catch every word.

"Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid," Ruby said plainly.

Jaune groaned and slumped down in his seated position.

"And you might've even been a failure the first day we met."

Jaune groaned again and sank even lower.

"But you can't be one now." Ruby finished off firmly, causing Jaune to sit himself back upright, "You know why?"

The boy appeared to stall for a second, unsure on how to answer the silver-eyed girls question.

"Uhhhh, because…" Jaune attempted to start, before being cut off by Ruby who jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Because it's not just about you anymore." She said with sudden power in her voice that made Fenrir blink in surprise.

"You've got a team now Jaune. We both do. And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second."

Ruby stood up and put her hands on her hips as if to put a point on the end of her little speech. Jaune and [Unknown to the other two] Fenrir looked up at her in awe, surprised at how someone two years younger than them and normally acted ten years younger than them, had said something that was actually quite profound.

For the Alpha, it had reminded him of something his Father had taught him when he was but a small pup.

" _ **Alone, a Grimm is strong. But when we work as a swarm, then we truly show our enemies the full extent of our wrath. Do not be so arrogant or so stupid as to think you can best all opponents by yourself, otherwise you will find yourself dead within a year son."**_

At the time, Fenrir had only half-listened to the older wolf, like with most things his father said. Now however, it seemed as if maybe there had been some merit to his fathers words, if even Humans figured it was better to stick together.

" _Place your teammates first, yourself second. I doubt all of your kind would follow that rule Ruby. I have seen first-hand just how self-centred your kind can get when your backs are against the wall."_

Fenrir had hunted many Humans in his day, he had witnessed how some of them would quite literally throw other Humans into his waiting jaws, all in a desperate attempt to get away from him.

He'd always made sure to **Butcher** those cowards first.

Whilst Fenrir was stuck yet again reminiscing on the past, Ruby had opened the door to her own dorm room and was about to cross the threshold. Though not it seems, without offering some final words to her conversation partner for the evening.

"Your team deserves a great leader Jaune" She said, smiling softly, "And I think that can be you. Have a good night Jaune."

With all said and done, the girl disappeared from sight, leaving the two boys to just stand in the deserted hallway, processing what she'd said.

Jaune appeared to be in lighter spirits than before, rising up from the floor and feeling like the load on his mind wasn't as heavy as it had been before. The boy turned around and appeared to be heading into his team's room.

But his progress was brought to a sudden halt when his scroll started to ring loudly, shattering the silence of the peaceful evening quite effectively.

Not wanting to disturb his neighbours in case they were sleeping, Jaune frantically grabbed his scroll and answered the device, only realising far too late just who was calling him at this time of night.

"Hey! It's your buddy Cardin." The voice of the person responsible for Jaune's sour mood cut through the quiet and made the boy visibly cringe in apprehension, "I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you, buuuuuuuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier wasps."

Jaune audibly gulped in fear. Rapier wasps were even bigger and more aggressive variants of regular wasps. The thought of trying to catch some of those winged devils caused chills to immediately run up and down the poor boys spine, his mind already imagining how painful it would be to be stung by just one of the insects.

"And make sure they've got some realllly big stingers." Cardin elaborated, his cocky smugness easily being translated through just a voice message alone, "It's important, so don't screw this up."

As quickly as it arrived, the message ceased and Jaune was left staring at a blank screen, his dejected mood from before coming back in full as he hung his head in resignation.

" _Well,"_ He reasoned with himself, _"I guess for now, I'll just have to keep doing what Cardin says. Ruby thinks I can be a good leader, so I have to prove myself to her that I can. I'll put my teammates first and just bear with this for as long as possible. I mean, it's not like Cardin will keep me under his heel forever right? He'll get bored of it eventually… Yeah."_

Not fully convinced, Jaune shook his head and reattached his scroll to his hip before reluctantly walking away from his teams room. He figured it would probably be for the best if he just got the latest task from Cardin out of the way now before he went to sleep. Besides, if he remembered correctly, Rapier wasps were a lot less active at night, so he'd have a better chance catching them now as opposed to during the day.

"So, that's what this is all about." A deep voice rumbled suddenly.

"BWAH HA!"

Jaune felt like he'd very nearly leapt out of his own skin as he let out an ill-fittingly girlish shriek. Spinning around and holding a hand to his chest, Jaune looked up in alarm at the massive sillohuete that could only belong to the Beowolf of Beacon. Even in the low light of the corridor, the glow of Fenrir's navy eyes was unnaturally bright.

" _A guy that big shouldn't be so quiet!"_

Once Jaune had gotten his heart back in its proper place in his chest, he noticed that the Grimm was in fact, scowling heavily at him.

Or to be more precise, scowling at his scroll.

In an eyeblink, Fenrir had snatched the device from Jaune's hip. The scraggly blond sputtered in protest, but Fenrir had already opened the device up, just to be greeted with Cardin's profile picture.

"Cardin!" Fenrir growled with pure contempt.

" _This guy is seriously starting to annoy me now!"_

The Beowolf turned the scroll around so it was facing Jaune and immediately started to grill the helpless boy.

"You doing whatever Cardin says now?" He asked, stalking forward slowly, "Is that why you've been acting so strange these past few weeks?"

"Uh… well… you see… the thing about that is…" Jaune stuttered, backing away before a flash of remembrance crossed his mind and he looked at Fenrir indignantly.

"Hey, hang on! How long were you listening in on that conversation?"

Fenrir just scoffed and tossed the scroll back at Jaune who fumbled for a second to catch it.

"I got up to the part where Ruby was using her usual tactics to win an argument" The Grimm answered, "Though it seems there were some parts I missed."

Jaune gulped as Fenrir was as unrelenting as always. A brief pause descended upon the two as they eyed each other cautiously, until surprisingly Fenrir's expression softened slightly, and he backed up just a little bit.

"What's going on Jaune. I'm only asking because I'm concerned too."

Jaune stilled and looked shocked, before his posture once again took a more defensive stance.

"Why?" He asked indignantly, "Why do you care all of a sudden, wouldn't someone weak like me be beneath you?"

"Maybe," Fenrir responded, crossing his arms defiantly, "But you are important to the others Jaune, and they are worried about you. I care, because they care, and I can't just stand by and watch them wallow in their own anxiety."

Last time, Jaune had gotten the jump on Fenrir and had used that window of opportunity to escape him. He wasn't going to make the same mistake again. He stood before the smaller boy like a brick wall, solid and unmoving as he stared at Jaune, waiting for him to open his mouth.

" _I can be just as stubborn as you Jaune. You're going to talk to me."_

A great long pause followed as the two just continued to stare at each other, Jaune fidgeting nervously. After a while though, Fenrir sighed suddenly and began to walk away, making Jaune blink at him in surprise.

" _Is… Is he giving up?"_ Jaune wondered, both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

"Come on, lets go." Fenrir called out behind his shoulder.

"Huh?" Jaune asked, cocking his head to the side.

"You're going to get those Rapier wasps aren't you?" Fenrir continued, "You'll need some help to catch them, they're vicious insects and to be stung by one, feels like being stabbed with a very hot nail."

Fenrir was speaking from experience, that had not been a fun day, when he'd accidentally bounded headlong into a hive of the things while chasing some bandits.

Jaune remained rooted to the spot for a moment, internally debating whether or not he wanted the Grimm's help, before deciding it would be in his best interests to have an extra pair of hands when handling the critters.

So the blond jogged to catch up to Fenrir's strides, and the two walked in awkward silence to the exit of the student dorms. The Alpha thought hard on Jaune's predicament, trying to figure out how Cardin had gotten Jaune under his heel.

"He's making you do things for him." Fenrir spoke aloud, not expecting an answer from the boy next to him, "It's obvious you don't want to do this, which means he's forcing you somehow. He can't be threatening to hurt your teammates, even he's not that stupid… Maybe."

That got a small chuckle out of Jaune, and his guard lowered somewhat. That was good, Fenrir thought.

"So it's something specifically meant for you. What does he have on you Jaune?"

Fenrir side-eyed the gangly teen next to him, searching for any clues on his face. For a while, the boys face was contorted, marred with internal conflict, before eventually he let out a tired sigh and hung his head in bitter resentment.

"Cardin… If I don't do everything he says," Jaune muttered slowly, "Then he'll go to Ozpin, or Goodwitch, or any of the professors and tell them… that I… that I don't belong here."

That caused the Alpha to stop in place and look at Jaune with a confused expression.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and turned to look at the Wolf Faunus properly.

"I kind of… sorta… cheated to get in here."

Fenrir just tilted his head slightly and looked even more lost than before. Jaune let out an exasperated sigh before spilling his guts even more.

"Everyone else has reasons to be here." He explained, "Reasons that show why they're worthy to be Huntsmen and Huntresses. All of mine Fenrir are fake, made-up. I'm not strong, or smart, or that great in a fight. Come on, you've seen me in the ring, do I look like a trained fighter to you?"

Fenrir thought for a moment, before shaking his head slowly.

"You're… not that good" He admitted, wincing when he saw Jaune visibly deflate.

" _Still, that does explain a lot."_ The Grimm reasoned to himself, _"Granted, I'm not THAT much better, but I have an excuse, I've only had this body for what, a month and a half?"_

"So, why come here then?" Fenrir asked, suddenly finding the boys mere presence here fascinating, "If you know you're not a capable warrior, why even come here in the first place?"

Jaune appeared to bristle for a second, before taking a long breath and looking at the Beowolf with an almost defeated look in his eyes. Fenrir could feel the waves of self-pity rolling off the boy like waves.

"Because it's what I always wanted," He said, "I wanted to be a hero like everyone else in my family, and like the people in the stories. I wanted to be as strong and as fearless as them. I never got better when I was a kid, but I hoped that… that by coming here I'd finally start to be the hero I always dreamed of becoming."

Fenrir looked at Jaune intently. In his mind he was mildly amazed, which was surprising in and of itself. He knew, had Jaune been born a Grimm he would have been immediately written off, expected to die within a year.

The bestial part of his brain still agreed with that statement. Jaune himself had admitted it, he was a weakling, and he'd lied and cheated just to be here.

" _On the other hand,"_ Fenrir rationalised to himself, _"The very fact that he went to such lengths just to be here says a lot about just how much he wants this, and I'm not exactly supposed to be here either. He wants to get stronger… is that so different from what I want?"_

Feeling a need for some confirmation, Fenrir took a step forward and stared intensely into Jaune's own light blue orbs.

"Is that truly what you want?" He asked slowly, "To be a warrior of legend, to follow in the footsteps of your ancestors?"

Jaune took a gulp, before responding to Fenrir's look as best he could.

"More than anything." He said truthfully.

Fenrir continued to search his eyes for a second, until he then gave a small smile to the boy and nodded his head.

"Okay then." He said, and with not another word, he continued his trek to the exit.

Jaune stood in place for a moment, dazed by how Fenrir's mood towards him had just done a sudden 180. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Jaune walked up beside the Wolf. Within a few minutes, the two had made their way to the bottom floor.

"I suppose the others don't know about your… secret?" Fenrir spoke up again after a while

Jaune let out a quiet whine, before scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Pyrrha does," He admitted, "She knows that I lied to get into Beacon, though when I told her… I might have been a bit too hot-headed."

That surprised the Grimm a little, from what he'd seen the two got along quite well. But then he thought about it some more and he realised the two had rarely been seen in close proximity to each other recently.

"How so?" Fenrir asked.

"Uhmmm…" Jaune paused for a second, shuffling yet again in that awkward manner of his that Fenrir was just now starting to pick up on, "Well see, she was offering to… to train me, make me a better fighter, but I kind of, blew up in her face and spilled the beans in the process."

Fenrir was now next to the doorway to the outside world, when he whirled round to look at his companion and offered him a disbelieving look.

"That was a dumb decision." He said bluntly.

"Wh-buh…" Jaune reeled back slightly at Fenrir's brutal honesty, "Well would you have agreed to it, Mr Alpha dog?"

"In a way, I already have." Fenrir responded quickly.

To answer Jaune's questioning look, Fenrir brought out his own scroll and with a few taps of his claws, showed the boy the very workout plan he'd been given by the invincible girl. Jaune's mood instantly lowered, Fenrir didn't even have to look at him to figure that out, he could just sense it.

"Oh." Was all the boy could say in response to what he was seeing.

" _Maybe you should tell him a little something about yourself,"_ The soft voice offered it's counsel to the struggling Grimm, _"Tell him of a time when you yourself weren't so big and strong."_

Fenrir growled lightly in the back of his throat, not liking being reminded of his pitiful start in life, when he was but a small, weak, little pup. But he supposed, it would help give Jaune some perspective.

"You know Jaune," Fenrir started, his voice once more transitioning to that bassy tone that made his chest vibrate, "I was weak once too. I'm a natural born, which means for the first year of my life, I was just a small pup who didn't even have enough jaw strength to kill a dog. Once I was an adult, I became stronger, but something my father told me helped me progress a lot faster than most other Grimm my age."

Fenrir opened the door and began to walk outside, Jaune following along in stunned silence.

"He told me that if I really wanted to get stronger, then I would need to be around others, learn from them, observe everything and everyone around me. So many young Grimm tried to venture off on their own… most didn't survive for long. A lot of my kind nowadays don't even live to see their first century."

" _We have your people to thank for that mainly."_ Fenrir added in his head.

"And now," He huffed with a sense of amused irony, "I'm having to learn that lesson all over again. This body is not what I'm used to, and it just feels weaker than my normal body. As you can imagine, I want to change that quickly. So, this is how I'm doing that."

Fenrir once more gestured to his now closed scroll.

"Huh," Jaune started, at a loss for what to say, before an amused twinkle came to his eye, "Guess even Alpha's can't do everything by themselves?"

"Well we try." Fenrir rebuked, and the two started to laugh in a much more comfortable atmosphere than before.

"Right, wait here." Fenrir said suddenly walking off, "I've got to grab some things, then we'll go catch some wasps."

Fenrir immediately set off into a jog, making a beeline for his room. Jaune called after him to ask what it was he was getting, but shook his head when he realised that the Grimm was long out of earshot.

" _Jeez"_ The Arc boy thought to himself wistfully, _"Don't know how many people get two pep-talks in one night."_

The Beowolf meanwhile, had gained a sudden new perspective on the leader of team JNPR, one that left him actually impressed with the boy. The Cardin situation was still bugging him in the back of his head, but now that he had all the pieces, he found that the boy was stronger than he'd thought.

" _Despite literally starting at the bottom of the ladder, he still chose to come here. He was even willing to cheat his way in, just to get a chance to be greater than what he is. Hmmm, it seems I've misjudged you twice now, Jaune Arc."_

…

"This is insane Fenrir!" Jaune whispered harshly, holding a simple cardboard box in his hands.

"Relax Jaune," Fenrir spoke equally as quiet as he lined up one of Frostbite's revolvers at a branch high above the two.

A branch that was currently holding a Rapier Wasp nest high above the ground.

"It's quite late at night now, so they're all most likely asleep." Fenrir explained as Jaune continued to tremble whilst holding the box far in front of himself as possible, "Which means once you catch the hive, you should have enough time to tape the box shut before they wake up."

"Should have?!" Jaune nearly yelled, hating this plan more and more with every moment.

"It'll be fine" He assured his partner.

" _Okay, even I have to admit, this plan is crazy even for you."_ The soft voice decided to voice it's own opinion on this whole idea.

" _Hey, how about you try trusting ME for once?"_ Fenrir replied, already expecting the silence that followed.

Satisfied that the voice was leaving him alone for now, the midnight-haired teen looked towards Jaune with a nod of confirmation.

"You ready?"

Jaune whimpered for a second, before sucking in air through his teeth and planting his feet firmly on the ground.

"I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." He said, offering a weak smile to the Alpha.

Satisfied, Fenrir stretched his arm out to as far as it would go, and shut his right eye.

" _Now, just like Blake taught me."_ Fenrir thought as he recounted the steps in his head, _"Line up the sights, inhale and hold, exhale and… RELEASE!"_

A gunshot shattered the silence of the outside, followed immediately by the sound of splintering wood as the Dust round fired from Fenrir's revolver found its mark.

In no time, the branch snapped completely, and the oval shaped hive tumbled through the air and landed somewhat clumsily in the cardboard box Jaune was holding.

The next few seconds were ones of panicked rushing as the young knight grabbed a roll of industrial tape Fenrir had chucked at him and hastily sealed the box shut. Fenrir's ears perked up as he caught the sounds of aggressive buzzing coming from the box that were steadily rising in volume. Walking over, the Grimm held the box in place as it started to shudder whilst Jaune made some last-minute adjustments.

Once they were both certain the box was secure, the two backed away from still shaking object. Jaune fell down onto the grass and let out a sigh of relief.

"I'm… kinda amazed that worked honestly." Jaune admitted.

"Told you I knew what I was doing." Fenrir replied, crossing his arms and puffing his chest out, more than a little happy that his plan had worked out seamlessly.

However his happiness died swiftly when his lupine ears caught wind of even more buzzing, directly above where the two were standing.

"Uh, Fenrir?" Jaune questioned, growing worried himself when he saw the Alpha's proud face melt away to one of dread.

Slowly looking up, Fenrir's pupils shrunk when he caught sight of a _second_ hive in the same tree as the one he'd just shot. And these wasps were wide awake, startled by the sound of a powerful gun blast.

Jaune craned his neck around to follow Fenrir's line of sight, his face turning as pale as a sheet when he too spotted the swarm of very angry insects that were quickly realising they were not alone.

"That uh, that's a second hive." Jaune stated weakly.

"Yep." Fenrir agreed, not taking his eyes off the bugs.

"Should we start running for our lives?" The blond asked with a terrified grin.

"Yeah, lets do that." Fenrir answered quietly.

The two looked at each other.

The wasps started to buzz aggressively.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The two screamed at the top of their lungs as they turned and ran as fast as their legs could carry them [Jaune picking up the box along the way], the Rapier wasps hot on their heels. The two barely stopped for breath as they sprinted back to the academy, the scraggly teen surprisingly able to keep pace with the Grimm despite the fact he was carrying a box full of wasps.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU CHECK FOR A SECOND HIVE?!" Jaune yelled at the Wolf Faunus, his face a mixture of pure fear and wild fury.

"I DON'T KNOW, THEY'RE NORMALLY NEVER THAT CLOSE TOGETHER!" Fenrir hollered back, ducking his head to avoid a wasp kamikaze attack.

" _Can't keep running forever, got to find a way to ward them off."_

As the two ran, Fenrir looked all around the academy grounds searching for anything that could ward off their pursuers. And then, he spotted it, their possible salvation.

"JAUNE!" He yelled to the side, "HEAD FOR THE FOUNTAIN!"

"WHAT?!" Jaune shouted back, looking at the Grimm as if he had gone completely mad.

"JUST DO IT!" Fenrir didn't have time to argue, already heading straight for the stone structure in the middle of the courtyard.

Not stopping for a moment, the Grimm dived into the shallow water with a colossal splash. Dumping the box off to the side, Jaune followed reluctantly after. Submerged beneath the chilly water, Fenrir looked up at the surface world above, a small trail of bubbles streaming out of his mouth.

Though his vision was blurred somewhat, Fenrir could clearly see the swarm of Rapier wasps hovering by the fountain, waiting for the two of them to come up for air.

" _Oh great! Now we're just stuck here."_ Jaune thought despairingly.

Fenrir however, let an evil grin spread across his face.

" _This'll get them to clear off."_

Holding his arms out wide, the Beowolf flung himself up and chucked the water up in a massive wave towards the insects. In one stroke, more than half of the bugs were taken out of the air, the water rendering them unable to fly.

Not done, Fenrir used his arms like oars to fling more water at the flying nuisances. Eventually, enough of their brethren were taken out for the remaining wasps to give up and retreat back to their hive. Once he was sure they were definitely gone, Fenrir stood up to his full height and smirked in triumph.

"There," He sighed, "That wasn't so bad was it Jaune… Jaune?"

Looking around, Fenrir eventually noticed the rising stream of bubbles and saw the lanky blond was still under the water, and evidently about to run out of oxygen.

Shooting a hand into the considerably less full body of water, Fenrir grabbed Jaune by the back of his neck and stood him up with just one hand.

"AH! NO PLEASE" Jaune yelled in a panic, "NOT THE FACE, NOT THE… face?"

Opening his eyes, Jaune noticed how he wasn't being immediately stung to death, and that the sound of buzzing had gone away.

"They're gone." Fenrir stated and took a step back from the boy.

For a moment the two just stood there, their feet submerged in cold fountain water and panting slightly to get their breath back. Eventually, Jaune turned to look at the midnight-haired Faunus with what he hoped was withering glare.

"Well that could have gone a lot better."

"Yeah, probably," Fenrir conceded, before trying for a more positive spin, "But it could have gone a lot worse too."

Jaune looked off to the side, whilst Fenrir looked down at himself and his now drenched clothes.

"On the plus side, I don't think either of us need a bath now."

Jaune nearly gave himself whiplash when he looked back at the Grimm. At first, Fenrir started to grow worried that the boy would actually yell at him.

But then a snort came from the boy, and then another. Soon enough, Jaune was actually laughing out loud, a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"I can't believe we just did that!" He gasped, "That was crazy, completely utterly insane!"

Thinking back on it, what the two had done had been pretty reckless. So much so, that Fenrir actually started to chuckle.

If anyone had looked outside at that moment, they would have been quite confused at the sight of two first-year students, standing in a school fountain, one hanging on to the other for support as they laughed uproariously at seemingly nothing.

Soon though, the two got a hold of themselves and finally stepped out of the fountain and Jaune moved to retrieve the now slightly dented box.

Though not before getting splashed with another wave of chilled water as Fenrir, in true canine fashion, shook himself dry.

"Wh-Oh come on man!"

"What?" Fenrir asked, "It's quicker this way."

Jaune saw there was no point in arguing with the Wolf and just carried on with retrieving the box.

" _Gotta say,"_ Fenrir thought to himself as he brushed his damp bangs off of his face, _"That's much easier now that I don't have fur."_

Jaune returned soon after, now holding the box under his arm. Fenrir gave the box a scrutinising stare before looking up at the Knight.

"Should probably put that in another case," He advised, "Just to be safe."

"Yeah, good idea," Jaune agreed, before gesturing with his free hand, "Come on, lets get inside, in case those bugs decide to come back."

Nodding in agreement, Fenrir took the rear this time around as the two walked leisurely back to the student dorms.

" _That… was actually kind of fun,"_ Fenrir admitted to himself, _"Excusing the whole nearly getting stung to death part."_

However, looking at the boy in front of him, Fenrir's expression turned grim when he remembered the problem that was still not fixed. The problem that had been the very reason why the two were even out here gathering Rapier wasps in the first place.

"So, how much longer do you plan to keep this up?" He asked warily, "This whole doing whatever Cardin tells you to thing?"

Jaune appeared to stiffen up for a second, before turning round to look at Fenrir with a slightly sad smile.

"I guess, for the moment I'll just have to wait it out. I don't like it… but I want to stay here Fenrir, I want to be a good leader for my team, and I can't very well do that if I'm not even here. For now, I'm putting my teammates first, and just gritting my teeth until Cardin gets bored with terrorising me."

Fenrir nodded slowly in contemplation.

"Fair enough," He said, before looking at Jaune seriously, "But you do realise, you'll never reach your full potential while your under his boot-heel."

Jaune let out a tired sigh at that statement. He knew what the Grimm was saying was true, but it didn't exactly offer a solution to his problem.

"Well, if you know a way to get him off my back, I'd be happy to hear it."

"… I could beat him up for you if you like?" Fenrir offered.

Jaune let out a dry chuckle at Fenrir's unsurprising offer.

"Thanks, but as gratifying as that would be, I doubt it would change anything in the long run."

" _If anything, Cardin might try to blame me for that and just go straight to the professors and say I set Fenrir on him."_

Fenrir gave a shrug as if to say, 'Well I tried' and then the two carried on their way. Soon, the two were standing outside the door that they had exited from not a few minutes ago.

"Well, thanks for helping me get these guys Fenrir" Jaune said gratefully, "Who knows how long I would have been looking for them if I'd been by myself."

"It's no big deal." Fenrir dismissed with a wave of his hand.

Even now, the idea of receiving gratitude for anything he did was a very foreign concept to him.

"Hey Jaune!" The Alpha called out before the boy could disappear behind the door.

"Yeah Fenrir."

"Remember what I said today," Fenrir insisted, "Accepting help from others does not make you weak. Also remember what Ruby said as well, she is right to say that as a leader you have to put your followers needs ahead of your own. And right now… I think they just want their leader back."

Jaune appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, before nodding slightly and looking at Fenrir with a determined look.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Have a good night Fenrir."

Fenrir offered a nod in return and with not another word, the two went their separate ways.

Jaune feeling a great deal more confident than he had been before the evening had rolled around.

And Fenrir feeling relieved that he didn't have to worry so much about the others anymore. He couldn't fully explain it, but the look in the other boys eyes had told the Grimm that he'd be able to get himself out of his tricky situation.

Maybe not right now, but soon this whole business with Cardin would come to a close.

…

Fenrir let out a loud, tired yawn as he stretched his limbs up past his head. The first-years had had to get up earlier than usual today in order to prepare for their trip to the forest of Forever Fall, and that had included the disguised Wolf Demon. Normally, that wouldn't have been a problem for the light-sleeper, but he had spent more time outside last night than normal, helping Jaune with all his problems, and now that late night was catching up to him.

Not wanting to be sluggish or slow when outside the relative safety of the academies walls, Fenrir had clumsily grabbed a slightly dented Thermos from one of the shelves in his room, and had made a quick detour to the break room to fill up the thermos with as much Coffee as he could.

And now here he stood, next to the academies landing pad where several Bullheads and Airbuses were docked, just waiting for the rest of the class to turn up. The morning air was crisp and cool as usual, though Fenrir could tell it was warming up a lot faster than it had been several weeks ago.

" _we're definitely getting close to the end of spring."_ Fenrir noted to himself, taking another gulp of sweet caffeine from his thermos. With every sip, the hot liquid was doing its work, steadily waking the groggy Grimm up.

Walking around, Fenrir took a closer look at some of the nearby aircraft.

" _Never really got to look at these things up close like this before."_ Fenrir quirked an eyebrow as he let a hand rest itself upon the cool metal of a Bullheads hull.

It was a funny thing for the Beowolf. He knew these Human transports where entirely capable of flight, and of reaching speeds that would make a Griffon jealous. Yet seeing them like this, these enormous lumps of metal just sitting there, empty and lifeless, he still couldn't figure out just how they got their big, hulking bodies off the ground.

" _Wonders of technology I suppose."_

"Morning Fenrir."

A voice that sounded just as tired as he felt shook Fenrir out of his musings. Looking behind himself, Fenrir easily spotted the bright colour schemes that belonged to the four girls that made up team RWBY. Ruby, the one who had called out to him, brought a hand up to cover her mouth as she let out a squeaky yawn. To the Grimm, it looked as if the girl had only just gotten out of bed.

Though to the other three girls, Fenrir and Ruby looked alarmingly similar. Both of them had a serious case of bed-head, strands of red and black hair, and blue and black hair respectively, stuck out at bizarre angles. Their eyes were barely open, and their postures were slouched over.

"Good morning." Fenrir called out gruffly, receiving a nod from Weiss and Blake, and a sup' from Yang.

"You excited for our trip today?" Ruby asked tiredly.

"I wouldn't say excited," Fenrir admitted with a slight shrug of his shoulders, "But, I think it will do me some good to get away from these walls for a bit."

"Aw, Beacon not big enough for you wolfy?" Yang asked teasingly.

"Not even close." Fenrir responded tersely.

For a Human, maybe the academy was massive. But for a Grimm, a creature who had spent all of his life in the great outdoors, Beacon academy would always feel like a small corner of the world that he was just stuck in.

"I wonder what we'll be doing when we get to the forest?" Ruby wondered aloud, rubbing some sleep out of her eye.

"You asked us that all night Ruby." Weiss called out, early-morning irritation seeping into her voice, "We'll know when we get there, now stop asking."

Ruby visibly deflated at the heiress's harsh reprimand, and kicked at the ground with her boots.

"Always gotta kill the wonder." Ruby muttered so quietly only she [And two certain Faunus] could hear.

Shaking his head, Fenrir looked up at the steadily brightening sky and brought the bronze coloured thermos to his lips.

Only to stop halfway when his ears picked up the sound of more of Ruby's high-pitched yawns. Closing his mouth, Fenrir took a moment to observe the small reaper as she looked like she was barely keeping herself upright.

" _She looks even more tired than me."_ Fenrir surmised before looking at the beverage in his hand that was still half-full.

Seeing no harm in it, Fenrir unscrewed the cap from the top of the Thermos and poured out some of the steaming liquid into the cap. The Alpha then lightly tapped Ruby on the shoulder and casually offered the make-shift cup of coffee to the girl.

"Here," He said quietly, "You'll need to be alert when we're out there."

"Aw, thanks Fenrir." Ruby said, smiling gratefully and accepting the drink.

Neither Weiss nor Yang paid much attention to the interaction between the two. Blake on the other hand, quirked an eyebrow as the two quietly conversed between themselves, Fenrir downing the rest of his beverage in one shot.

"Hmmm."

As time passed, more and more students turned up at the launchpad, just milling about and waiting for Goodwitch to show up. Soon, team JNPR ended up joining the four girls and the Grimm where they were standing, Jaune included. Fenrir noticed the boy was carrying a bulky briefcase under his arm, similar to the one he used to carry his weapons in before he got a locker.

There was no doubt in his mind, in that briefcase was where the Rapier wasps were now secured, hidden from sight.

" _That means Cardin plans to use those wasps today."_ Fenrir guessed, _"While we're out in the forest perhaps? That means whatever he's planning definitely isn't good."_

Fenrir shot a look towards the other male, who simply responded with a shrug. As if to say he was just as in the dark as Fenrir was in regards to the intended purpose of Cardin needing the Rapier wasps today.

The Grimm frowned, but said no more on the subject.

For a while, the group of eight conversed amongst themselves [With Fenrir hanging around the edge, trying his best to appear aloof], Jaune surprisingly also contributing to the group discussion. Pyrrha appeared to be the one most surprised by their leaders sudden shift in attitude, though she didn't comment on it, instead remaining hesitant in case this turned out to be a trick or cover up on the boys part.

Eventually, Glynda Goodwitch herself arrived and all students snapped to attention, Fenrir included albeit with a roll of the eyes accompanying the gesture. The veteran Huntress surveyed them all with a scrutinising glare, taking note on how half of them looked like they'd only just gotten out of bed two minutes ago.

"Everyone," She called out, her voice carrying far around the silent landing area, "Make your way to a Bullhead and strap yourselves in. You'll be informed of your task once we arrive at the Forest of Forever Fall."

Having been given their instructions, the class immediately dispersed and started boarding several of the aerial vehicles that were parked nearby. Fenrir hesitated outside of one of the Bullheads, wincing slightly as he already knew what was coming. Shaking his head free of his halting thoughts, Fenrir boarded the transport and was promptly followed by the others who seemed much more at ease with being in the aircraft than he did.

In no time at all, the Bullhead's engines roared to life and the vehicles quickly ascended up into the sky and began the long flight towards the Forever Fall forest.

"Urgh!" Fenrir groaned as that familiar clamping feeling grabbed at his stomach the second they were in the air. The beast instantly placed his head in-between his hands and shut his eyes, counting down the seconds until it didn't feel like his guts were about to leap out of his mouth.

"Woah, feeling a little air-sick wolfy?" Yang asked, slightly worried that she'd have a repeat of the incident with Jaune at the start of the year, and quickly moved her boots far from the Grimm's position.

"Hate… flying." Fenrir struggled to get out through gritted teeth, keeping his eyes firmly planted on the floor to avoid upsetting his stomach any further.

"Oh you get that too?" Another voice piped up. Looking up briefly, Fenrir saw Jaune looking at him with a hopeful light in his eye, despite the fact that his face had paled somewhat.

"See I told you it was a common thing." The blond stated proudly towards the youngest member of their group.

"Yeah, sure whatever you say." Ruby gestured non-committedly towards her fellow leader.

"If Beowolves were meant to fly," The Alpha grumbled to himself, "We would have been born with wings."

"Hang in their Fenrir," Pyrrha offered with a sympathetic smile, "We'll be back on solid ground in no time."

Fenrir simply nodded and kept his head down for the entire duration of the trip, focusing on the dull thrum of the engines and blocking out all other sounds.

After what felt like far too long to the disguised Beowolf, the small squadron of Bullheads arrived at the forests edge and touched down as gently as a feather. Fenrir was off the aircraft so quickly, you'd think he'd teleported off.

Once he got his legs back under himself, he surveyed the now wide-open area around him. Spotting a rocky outcrop near where they had landed, Fenrir immediately set out into a jog and started to scale the sheer rock face. Compared to the walls and rooftops of Beacon, this was far easier and in record time, Fenrir was at the top and overlooking the entire forest beneath him.

"…There it is." He whispered to himself breathlessly as he looked down at the massive expanse of trees, the entire forest stretching for miles in both directions. It was as he took in the scenery, the Grimm came to a stark realisation.

He was outside properly now, and he could _breathe_ again.

The Forever Fall forest, so called because every tree within it's borders was either a bright red or a burnt orange, even the grass was an eye-popping scarlet, making the whole area appear as if it was stuck in perpetual Autumn. Fenrir had come through this place several times in the past, just passing through in order to get to where he was actually going.

Yet now, standing here, it was like he was seeing it for the first time all over again.

He hadn't been able to appreciate the outside world when he was at the Emerald Forest, mainly due to nerves over having to go back to the place where this whole fiasco had begun. But now, he took a moment to close his eyes and just feel the space around him.

A light breeze brushed his face and tousled his hair. His Wolf ears could make out the sounds of dozens of woodland creatures going about their day to day lives, he could hear the chirps and tweets of birds as they flew through the sky.

His nose could pick out the smell of soil, wood and all manner of flowers down below. All these new yet familiar sensations culminated in the Wolf feeling more at ease and relaxed than he had felt in a very long time.

No walls, no buildings, no Humans.

Just, the world.

"Hey Fenrir!" A feminine voice broke him out from his brief reverie.

" _Well, maybe not the no Humans part."_ Fenrir frowned, reminded that he wasn't by himself.

Noticing that his posture had greatly relaxed, the Grimm tensed back up and turned to jump off the rocky platform. A brief feeling of being suspended in the air passed, before he collided back down on solid earth.

The ground caved in slightly from the impact, but Fenrir just brushed it off like it was nothing. Ruby noticed the light blue haze that covered his legs briefly when he landed, and then disappeared a second later.

But more importantly, the girl noticed how the Grimm looked far more peaceful than he had looked on the Bullhead. In fact, she swore she could see the barest hints of a smile on his face.

"What's got you so happy?" She asked innocently.

Fenrir took another brief scan of all the people that were gathered around in the small clearing, before turning to address Ruby's question.

"I guess…" He started uncertainly, before regaining his composure, "… I guess it's just nice to be back home again."

Ruby didn't appear to know how to respond to that, but she gave the Grimm a smile all the same.

"Is this where you were born Fenrir?" Blake asked suddenly.

"No," Fenrir said with a shake of his head, before huffing humorously, "Actually, the Emerald forest is the place of my birth."

A chortle followed this revelation, a chortle from the Blonde brawler herself.

"So, what you're saying is…" She started, but Fenrir cut her off.

"Yes, the irony is not lost on me." He said flatly.

The irony being that the place of his birth, was also the place of his _re-_ birth.

" _I was only there to visit."_ The Beowolf lamented, _"And then that… hat wearing Human lured us into that cave system. I wonder where he is now, why he did even trap us down there in the first place?"_

Goodwitch beckoning for the class's attention shook Fenrir out of his questions.

" _Bah, questions for later. I need to focus when I'm out here."_

As nice as it was to be out in the open, Fenrir wasn't blind to the reality that now that he was in this new form, he could only stay here for moments at a time, and he would not be safe.

His own kind would see him as an enemy now.

With not a word spoken, Goodwitch used her telekinesis to levitate around two dozen empty glass jars into the air. Fenrir quirked an eyebrow in curiosity as to what those jars were for, before his eyes shot open in alarm and he flung a hand up to catch a jar that was suddenly thrown at his head.

A quiet chorus of giggles bubbled out from the rest of the class as Fenrir stood there holding a jar inches away from his own face. Fenrir growled under his breath and shot a glare at the Professor.

Goodwitch for her part remained as impassive as stone, though the Wolf could make out the slight curve of a smirk on her face.

"Everyone!" The older woman called out, silencing everyone's tittering, "Grab a jar each, you'll need them for what we have to do."

Fenrir continued to grumble and grouse to himself as everyone moved to grab a jar.

"Swear to the gods…" The Beowolf seethed.

"Stop complaining," Weiss reprimanded, "She knew you'd catch it."

Whilst Weiss was busy lecturing Fenrir for muttering under his breath, the four boys that made up team CRDL grabbed their jars, and with no trace of shame, dumped them on the hapless Jaune Arc.

The boy fumbled for a second, before precariously balancing all five jars on top of the briefcase.

Fenrir snarled contemptuously at the four thugs backs, but the soft voice quelled his rage.

" _Leave it,"_ The voice soothed, _"No sense in starting a fight here."_

Once everyone had a jar each, Goodwitch walked forward into the forest proper, not even checking to see if the rest of the class was following her.

The sizeable group of students hurried after the Professor, some of them taking in the sights as they went.

"Wow." Ruby gasped in childlike wonderment, watching as crimson leaves floated delicately through the air.

Fenrir for his part, just smiled softly as he breathed in the clear, comforting air of the Forest. Stretching out a clawed hand, the Wolf caught some falling leaves and rubbed a thumb across their crinkly surfaces.

"Does this place really look like it's the middle of Fall all year round?" Ruby asked the boy as they continued their stroll through the forest.

"Yes, come rain, wind or snow, this place is forever stuck in one season." Fenrir explained, remembering how no matter what time of year he came to this place, its appearance was unchanged.

"How is that possible though?" Weiss wondered aloud, also taking a moment to survey the rusty red trees as they swayed in the breeze.

"We Grimm think it has something to do with the soil." Fenrir guessed, "Some kind of substance in the ground that makes the trees and plant life grow differently here."

"Mmm, yes our researchers guessed as much as well." Weiss said, agreeing with Fenrir's suggestion.

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." Professor Goodwitch spoke aloud from the front of the pack, catching everyone's attention, "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure that none of you die while doing so."

Goodwitch came to a very sudden stop and turned to face the group of students with a calculating gaze. The sudden stop caused several students to stumble slightly, Jaune being hit the worst as he crashed into the back of Cardin, nearly sending the glass jars he was carrying tumbling to the ground.

"Oh! Uh, heh." Jaune stammered for a moment before whistling nonchalantly, trying oh so hard to pretend that Cardin wasn't giving him the evil-eye.

Fenrir, meanwhile, had already come to a stop before Goodwitch had and was now staring at her in disbelief.

" _That's it?"_ He questioned, his jaw going slack from shock, _"That's what we came all this way out for? FOR GRASS CLIPPINGS?! TREE BARK?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"_

The Grimm felt like he was about to topple over under the weight of pure insanity he was being forced to hold right now.

"Each of you is to gather one jars worth of red sap." Professor Goodwitch instructed, holding up a jar of her own that was full of the aforementioned sap that was found only in the trees of this forest, "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, the one next to you notwithstanding."

Another chorus of laughter started from this comment, and Fenrir just gave Goodwitch a thoroughly unimpressed grimace.

" _I'm so glad you're having fun at my expense, GLYNDA."_ The Alpha thought sarcastically.

"So be sure to stay by your teammates." The professor carried on in her usual strict manner, "We will rendezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun!"

With a dismissal given, the crowd immediately dispersed, going off in several different directions.

"You coming big guy?" Yang called out as her and the rest of her team began to walk off into one of the denser parts of the forest.

Fenrir, still trying to process the fact that they were here for such an asinine reason, shut his eyes and took a deep breath. When he let out a long sigh, there was a noticeable shudder in his voice, as if he was struggling to keep his mind from not snapping in half.

"Yeah, okay." He whispered, still keeping his eyes shut as he walked off to join the others.

Jaune, likewise moved off to join his own team. But a certain broad-shouldered brunette wasn't about to let the Blond teen get away so easily.

"C'mon buddy, lets go." Cardin said with barely concealed menace, gripping the boys shoulder tightly to show that refusal wasn't an option.

Jaune appeared to hesitate for a moment. He really didn't want to go with the brute, but by the grip on his shoulder and the slight tug of the arm, he knew he didn't have a choice. Looking forwards, Jaune saw Ren walking and Nora skipping off to join the four girls and the Grimmborn.

And Pyrrha… Pyrrha was looking right at him, waiting to see what he would do.

Jaune stared down at the floor, unable to even look her in the eyes.

" _I'm sorry Pyrrha."_ Jaune apologised in his head, feeling that now familiar feeling of utter worthlessness twist and writhe inside his centre.

All he could do for now was what he'd told Fenrir, wait it out and hope Cardin would get tired of this game.

So with a heavy heart, Jaune turned and moved to follow the members of team CRDL.

Pyrrha watched his retreating back with a disappointed gaze. It was foolish really, letting herself get her hopes up on the Bullhead ride to the forest that maybe Jaune had recovered from his usual caginess and was back to his old, goofy self. But obviously, that was not on the cards.

Letting out a weary sigh, Pyrrha straightened herself up and morphed her expression into one that was perfectly neutral. After years of tournament fights and advertising campaigns, she'd become quite adept at that, masking her true emotions and putting on a blank face.

However, for a being who could sense negative emotions from miles away if he pushed himself, it didn't matter how well you could hide your face.

"Do not worry about him." A gruff voice startled the Spartan girl.

Fenrir had been aware of what was going on behind him the second Cardin had opened his insipid mouth, and had just been waiting for Pyrrha to walk by him. He liked Jaune going off with Cardin and his minions just as much as Pyrrha liked it [That is to say, not at all], but like the boy had explained to him last night, there was very little he himself could do.

So for now, he'd have to exercise that human construct known as faith.

"He'll be fine." He stated simply.

Pyrrha huffed humourlessly, doubt visible from the frown on her face.

"Oh yes, I'm positive he's more than capable of doing everything by himself." Pyrrha said in a tone so laced with sarcasm that it was actually disconcerting for the Navy-eyed Wolf.

"Ruby and I had a talk with him the other night." Fenrir explained cautiously, observing as Pyrrha's whole body language shifted to one of surprise.

"Believe me, Jaune doesn't like the situation he's in either. But after speaking with him, I can just tell. He'll find a way out of this mess he's gotten himself in and he'll make up for all the worry he's caused you."

Pyrrha remained silent, absorbing the Alpha's words but still remaining doubtful. Taking a chance, Fenrir placed a rough hand on the girls shoulder and instead of trying for another one of his face-splitting smiles, simply nodded his head.

"It's asking a lot I know, but try not to get weighed down with worrying about him. He'll make a proper leader yet."

After removing his hand, Pyrrha looked up at him and offered a small smile of her own. Fenrir was satisfied to see that the negative Aura around the girl had dissipated, at least a little bit.

"Now come on. Lets…" Fenrir started, before grimacing and letting out another suffering sigh, "Lets go get this sap."

Pyrrha couldn't help but giggle at just how bitterly Fenrir had said the word 'sap', and without another word, the two hurried to re-join the others.

They found the rest of their merry band in a clearing, looking at the trees around them as if expecting them to just magically pour the sap themselves into their empty jars.

Sliding down a small incline, Fenrir stomped towards the others and decided, actually, he wasn't done complaining.

"I don't understand why you Humans would even need Tree Blood in the first place." He grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

"Tree blood!?" Yang exclaimed with a guffaw, "Is that really what Grimm call it? Wow, that's morbid, I gotta remember that one."

"We use it for lots of things actually." Weiss responded to Fenrir's question, "We use it in food, medicine, even some industrial products."

Fenrir regarded the Heiress's words, before nodding his head, understanding things a little better now.

"Ah. Now that you mention it, I have heard stories about the Ursai who live in these forests, about how some of them regard the sap as a delicacy."

At the time, he hadn't particularly cared about what some bone-headed bears were up to, but just as his father had instructed, he'd kept the information stored away in case he ever needed it again.

It appears that what he had heard might have actually been true.

Upon opening his eyes, he was greeted with the sight of everyone looking at him in shock. And they were shocked, they had no idea that the Grimm actually did _eat_ things other than Humans.

"What?" Fenrir asked, mildly affronted by the looks he was getting, "Just because we don't HAVE to eat, doesn't mean some of us don't experiment every now and then."

A very immature bout of giggles bubbled forth from Yang.

"Might wanna rethink your choice of words there, fuzzy."

Fenrir just shot Yang a perplexed look that showed he had no clue what Yang was talking.

"I think stuff like that's just going to fly over his head Yang." Blake advised, keeping her voice low so as to not be heard by the others.

However Fenrir, thanks to his extra set of ears, easily heard what the dark-haired girl said. And, with almost perfect timing, immediately craned his head up to look above himself.

" _What's going over my head? WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? I don't understand!"_

After catching her breath back after seeing the sight of Fenrir taking Blake's words way too literally and laughing so hard she started wheezing, Yang straightened herself up and decided to get a bit more serious.

"Alrighty gang!" She shouted out exuberantly, "Let's get this done."

Without even bothering to look up, Yang strode up to the nearest tree and jammed a spigot straight into the bark.

The girl waited for a moment, and then frowned when she saw nothing was coming out of the tap, not even a dribble.

"Huh, what's with this thing?" She wondered aloud, the others gathering behind her.

"Uh, Yang?" Ruby said hesitantly.

"Maybe I need to try a different spot." Yang guessed and removed the spigot, just to place it on a spot higher up on the tree.

Only to be met with the same result.

"Yang." Blake called out a little louder than her leader, to no effect.

"C'mon, give me something you stupid piece of wood!" Yang said, her voice rising as she started to get angry.

She started stabbing the spigot into several different spots on the helpless plant, getting more and more frustrated with each failed attempt.

Eventually, Fenrir grew fed up.

"YANG!" He barked, startling everyone around him, and causing several birds to go flying up into the air.

"What?!" Yang shouted back, her hair glowing slightly.

Fenrir, unintimidated, just pointed a finger upwards. Looking up, Yang saw what everyone else was trying to draw her attention to.

The fact that this particular tree, had no leaves on it.

"That is a dead tree." The Grimm said flatly.

Yang stared up at the long since deceased piece of timber for several moments, before eventually lowering her head to look at the others.

"Oh." Yang said, rubbing at the back of her head and offering everyone a sheepish grin.

Fenrir just let out another sigh, hearing Weiss mutter 'Honestly' behind him. It was points like this where he did seriously question, 'Why do I hang around these people again?'.

"Okay, well," Nora drawled out, looking around until selecting another tree that definitely had leaves on it, "How about that one instead."

The girl started making her way over towards the tree, but surprisingly Fenrir spoke up again.

"That trees barely a year old." He explained gruffly, "You'll hardly get any sap from it."

Shaking his head, Fenrir turned and began to stalk off. Ruby followed him with her eyes for a moment, before looking towards the rest of her team and the three members of team JNPR. With no words said, the group of seven came to an agreement and started following the Wolf from a distance.

"Honestly," Fenrir grumbled to himself, before scanning the area with his eyes, unaware that he was being watched, "You want to find a tree that's old and thick. Ah, like this one."

The Grimm walked over to a tree that certainly appeared to be bigger than all the neighbouring trees.

"You can tell, because the barks a darker shade of brown than the other trees." Fenrir unknowingly explained to everyone, thinking he was just talking to himself, "But what you really want is the central vein, that's where the most sap is stored. You just need to find the line in the tree that's almost bright pink… AHA! There it is."

Crouching down, Fenrir ran a hand across the tree's bark, his fingers tracing along a gap in the bark that from what they could see, did appear to have some pink pigmentation to it.

Instead of using a spigot, Fenrir brought about his right Gauntlet and pressed only his pointer finger to the corresponding pad on his hand.

SHNK!

A single blade sprang forth from just above Fenrir's knuckle. With careful precision, the Alpha aimed the blade at just the right point, and then stabbed the blade into the tree.

The sharpness of the blade made it so that Frostbite easily sunk into the flesh of the tree, all the way until Fenrir's fist was pressed up against the tree. He twisted the blade right and left a little bit, before quickly removing the blade, sheathing it back into its casing and holding his jar just beneath the recently made stab wound.

"Just wait for a moment and…"

Barely a second later, a steady stream of sticky, red sap came flowing out of the open wound on the tree. It was an incredible sight to the others, to them the sap was flowing almost like water, very quickly filling up the Beowolf's jar with the stuff.

In a matter of minutes, Fenrir had a full jar. Satisfied, Fenrir moved the jar off to the side and pressed both of his hands up to the hole in the tree, squeezing tightly.

"And now, just seal the wound shut." Fenrir mumbled to himself, "Now, the tree will be able to recover the sap it lost by the end of the day."

Taking his hands away from the tree, Fenrir saw that the outer layer of sap was working like glue, slowly sealing the wound closed and keeping the rest of the sap in.

In time, the sap would harden, and the wound would disappear.

Getting back to his feet, Fenrir grabbed his now full jar and appraised it with a satisfied smirk.

"Nothing to it." He said to himself, before blinking and looking up to now realise that he was not alone.

The entire group was looking at him, all showing various degrees of surprise on their faces.

"Umm." Fenrir mumbled, feeling very uncomfortable under everyone's gazes.

"How, did you know all that?" Weiss finally gave voice to the question everyone was wondering.

"Well, uh." Fenrir stammered before coughing into his hand and righting himself, "I've been living outside for nearly all of my life. I just, picked up a thing or two every now and then. Maybe… I guess…"

Fenrir continued to shuffle on the balls of his feet as the others continued to gawk at him. Eventually it grew too much for the Grimm and he exploded.

"STOP STARING AT ME!" He yelled.

Everyone instantly diverted their eyes away from the beast, though Ruby noticed how Fenrir's cheeks had started to turn red near the end, and she struggled to contain her giggles.

Thoroughly annoyed, Fenrir shook his head and moved to walk past the sudden crowd he'd amassed unknowingly.

Before he could get away fully though, an upbeat voice called for his attention.

"Hey!" Nora said exuberantly, "Mind showing us more trees like that one?"

"W-What?!" Fenrir exclaimed, snapping his head back to look disbelievingly at the tiny ginger.

"Yeah!" Ruby nodded in agreement to Nora's idea, "We'll get this done in no time if you show us the best trees to get sap from. Please Fenrir."

Ruby, Nora, Yang and even Pyrrha were now looking up at the Grimm with big, doe-like eyes. Fenrir rapidly turned away to shield his face from prying eyes, and clutched a hand to his chest.

" _What the Hell!"_ He yelled inside his head, his mind burning the image of the girls pleading looks into the back of his eyeballs, _"Why are they looking at me like that?"_

After recollecting his composure, Fenrir let out a series of harsh, forced coughs, before turning his head up and shutting his eyes.

"I suppose, I can give you some pointers." The Beowolf said, trying his hardest to look disinterested, "It'll be better than just watching you all fumble around aimlessly."

So, with a goal in mind, Fenrir turned and began walking purposefully into the thick foliage of the forest.

"He's not fooling anyone, is he?" Nora whispered with a shrewd grin.

"Nope!" Yang agreed, sporting a sly smirk of her own, "But of course he'd grow to like us, there's no one alive who can resist my charms."

"Keep telling yourself that Yang." Ruby teased, before jogging to catch up to the black and blue-haired Faunus.

The others were just thankful that, slowly but surely, the Grimm in disguise was slowly starting to lose his scary edge.

…

A couple of hours had passed since professor Goodwitch had dismissed the first-year students, and by this point most of them were spread out across the vast expanse of Forever Fall forest, dutifully completing the assignment given to them by the veteran Huntsman.

Well, everyone except the four boys of team CRDL who were just casually lounging about, not a care in the world. After all, why would they need to do any work, when they'd already sent someone off to do it all for them.

That help in question, was just returning to the group of four with six jars full to the brim with tree sap, tucked into his chest.

Jaune Arc was struggling to keep his eyes open, his nose completely blocked up and his legs trembling like jelly beneath him. Clearly, he was suffering a bad reaction to the sap, not that anyone but himself cared.

Far too exhausted to worry about being graceful, Jaune dropped all six jars on to the forest floor and just watched as they rolled a way for a bit, before collapsing face first on to the ground himself.

"Hey. Great work, Jauney boy." Cardin called out condescendingly, opening one eye from his lounged position to see that Jaune had completed his task, "Now that wasn't too hard, was it?"

"I think I'm allergic to this stuff." Jaune said stuffily, the world spinning around him briefly as he looked up from the ground.

"Great, great great." Cardin mumbled distractedly, demonstrating just how little he actually cared about the Arc boys predicament, "So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect SIX jars of tree sap, when there's only FIVE of us?'"

"That is one of the many questions that I have asked myself today, yes." Jaune conceded, remembering how he'd found it quite odd that Cardin had very specifically ordered Jaune to get six jars worth of red sap.

" _Where did he even get the sixth jar from?"_ The Blond wondered to himself, before he was unceremoniously pulled back to his feet by the larger boy.

"Well," Cardin said, grinning sinisterly, "Come with me and you'll find out."

"Oh…" Jaune groaned, gulping down a lump in his throat as an unsettling feeling started to grow in his gut.

He did not like the look in Cardin's eyes right now, it was a look that just screamed trouble. But due to the fact that he was being circled in on all sides by Cardin's three cronies, Jaune saw no other alternative but to go along with whatever it was Cardin was planning, or risk incurring his anger, which he really didn't want.

The group of five walked up towards the crest of a maroon coloured hill, and then laid themselves out flat on the ground, their stomachs pressed against the earth. Jaune scrambled to catch up to the other four, crawling along the ground until he re-joined the four boys at the top of the hill.

Looking down, Jaune immediately spotted the rest of his team gathered in the clearing below them, along with all of team RWBY and the lone Beowolf.

Looking around, it was clear that most of them had nearly finished their task, most of their jars now full of the trees sap. Some like Blake were just sitting on the floor, quietly taking in the scenery, others like Yang were admiring their handiwork, holding her jar up to the sunlight to see how the sap shimmered when it caught the rays.

Fenrir, meanwhile, appeared to be patrolling the area, keeping an eye out for any unusual activity. He kept that up until he turned around and crouched down next to Weiss who appeared to be holding a spigot with just two fingers.

"Sooooo, here?" She questioned the wolf, pointing at a spot on the tree.

"Close," The Grimm muttered back, pointing to a spot just to the left of where Weiss was aiming, "Just a little bit this way. There, perfect."

The Heiress carefully wedged the tap into the bark of the tree, and then nodded up to the Alpha in appreciation. Satisfied, Fenrir got back up and continued his steady pacing around the area.

Over in the corner, Jaune saw Ren give Nora a full jar, just to grab the empty jar she had previously been holding and moving on to another tree.

Nora, meanwhile, started eyeing the jar of sap with a hungry look.

"Mmmm~"

And then to Jaune's amazement [And horror], Nora started gulping down the entire contents of the jar, smearing her lips with the sticky, red stuff. Ren caught the sounds of slurping behind him, and shot Nora an annoyed frown as she just giggled at him in response.

Fenrir, whilst all this was going on, just looked at the pair with an aghast face. But then his disgust, soon changed to curiosity as he looked down at his own jar, firmly attached to his hip.

" _I mean, Ursai eat this stuff right?"_ Fenrir reasoned to himself, unscrewing the lid from the jar, _"And Weiss did say it can be used in Human food."_

Figuring he had nothing to lose, Fenrir stuck a clawed finger into the jar and held a glob of sap on his finger. He stared at the substance warily for a second, before throwing caution to the wind and jamming the finger into his mouth.

Instantly, Fenrir's eyes widened, and he spat out what was in his mouth like it was burning his tongue.

"PLAH!" He spat, "GAH HAAAA!"

" _Too sweet! Way, way too sweet!"_

To the Grimm, it had tasted like he'd just eaten glue, sprinkled with sugar.

Furiously, reattaching the jar to his jeans, Fenrir whirled around to glare at whoever was chuckling at his mishap.

The person in question was Ruby, though she was also joined by Weiss, who was just shaking her head in disappointment at the Beowolf.

"Why did you do that?" Ruby said breathlessly, in-between her laughter.

"Nora ate some." Fenrir tried to justify, wrapping his arms and tail around himself the way he did whenever he was feeling uncomfortable.

"Yes, But Nora will eat anything." Weiss chided, "She's like a human Garbage disposal."

"Mhmm," The girl herself agreed with a proud grin, "There's nothing my tummy can't handle."

Jaune smiled fondly at all his friends antics, but then his smile gave way to a concerned frown when he remembered he wasn't alone up here.

"Cardin, what's going on?" The boy asked hesitantly, looking off to the side towards the brunette.

Cardin just scowled down at the unsuspecting first-years.

"Payback." He said simply, his eyes unmoving from a certain spot.

Jaune didn't quite know what Cardin was talking about, until he followed the brutes eyes and found they were entirely focused on a shock of scarlet hair, and bronze-coloured armour.

"Pyrrha?"

There was no misinterpreting to be found here. Pyrrha was currently standing apart from everyone else, having just offered to take Nora's now empty jar, and re-fill it at an untapped tree.

Now Jaune was seriously worried. This wasn't just some random student Cardin was deciding to terrorise now, this was one of his friends, one of his closest friends at Beacon in fact.

A friend who had just wanted to help him, despite all his stubborn blustering.

"What are you- "Jaune started to question, but was cut off by Cardin thumping his fist into the dirt and continuing to glare scornfully at Jaune's partner.

"That's the girl." Cardin sneered, "Red-haired know-it-all thinks she's so smart. Alright boys."

Cardin reached behind himself and all of a sudden, produced the cardboard box Jaune had brought that held the dreaded Rapier wasps.

"Last night," Cardin explained to his fellow goons, "Ol' Jaune here managed to round up an entire box full of Rapier wasps. And now, we're gonna put 'em to work."

On the other side of Jaune, Russel Thrush shook the small boys shoulder in a mock-friendly gesture. Jaune laughed nervously in response, but internally he felt like getting up and far far running away.

"Now," Cardin explained, looking down at the slightly shaking box in his hands, "According to one of the essays he wrote for me last week, these nasty things looooove sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two."

Jaune felt the contents of his stomach freeze as all the pieces slotted into place in his mind. Somehow, Cardin must have found out what they would be doing today, and that's why he'd asked Jaune to gather up those wasps so late at night.

" _He's been planning this from the very start!"_

Indeed Cardin had. There'd even been a brief moment during his brainstorming, where he'd thought about tagging the **Mutt** as well, in revenge for when the Grimm had beaten him in front of everyone in the cafeteria, but in the end he'd thought better of it. Out of the two, Cardin knew for sure that Fenrir was the more ill-tempered and would likely fly into a rage the second he was hit with the sap.

Pyrrha might get angry too, but fortunately, Cardin had a contingency plan for that.

As the four boys got back to their feet, Cardin surprisingly offered a hand-up to the Blond. Jaune, not thinking straight, accepted Cardin's hand and was roughly pulled to his feet for the second time today, just to get a full jar shoved roughly into his gut.

"Bwuh!" Jaune grunted, the wind knocked out of him from the impact.

"And you're gonna do it." Cardin stated aggressively.

Jaune looked up at the larger boy and blinked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Do what?" He asked fearfully.

"Hit her with the sap!" Cardin responded, forcefully prodding Jaune in the shoulder, "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first Airship out of Beacon."

Cardin made it clear just from the look in his eyes that there was no room for argument. Jaune felt like he was gonna collapse right then and there as he stared up at the expectant faces of all four thugs.

The teens limbs felt like lead as he turned towards the edge of the hill and reeled the arm holding the jar back behind his head. For what felt like an eternity he just stood there, his hands shaking something fierce.

Frantically, he looked down into the clearing, searching for a pair of lupine ears.

" _Come on Fenrir!"_ Jaune pleaded in his mind, _"You've got that whole, negativity sensor haven't you? Surely this is enough to grab your attention, BECAUSE I AM FREAKING OUT OVER HERE!"_

But when he saw the Beowolf, he had his back turned to the hill and appeared to just be staring out into the forest.

Though the truth was, Fenrir had indeed sensed four negative sources that were reeking of malicious intent, and one source that was just pure panic. He knew, without even looking, that those sources could only belong to Cardin, his lackeys and Jaune.

So he kept completely still, his fists clenching and unclenching as he stared straight ahead and listened with bated breath, to see what would happen next.

" _Come on Jaune!"_ The wolf urged silently, his teeth grinding against each other, _"I don't know what they're forcing you to do, but whatever it is, don't do it, come onnnnn!"_

Seeing that he'd get no help from the Grimm, Jaune's eyes fell back onto the unsuspecting Pyrrha. All at once, Jaune felt his guilt, shame and self-loathing come back to him in full force.

" _I'm just, so pathetic."_ Jaune thought bitterly, _"What kind of leader am I?"_

The second Jaune thought of the word 'leader', a rush of memories from just last night came surging back to him.

Memories of some words that had been given to him by a silver-eyed reaper.

And a grouchy Wolf-demon.

" _We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second."_

" _You'll never reach your full potential while you're under his boot-heel."_

" _Because it's not just about you anymore."_

" _Accepting help from others does not make you weak."_

" _Your team deserves a great leader Jaune…"_

" _Right now, I think they just want their leader back."_

"… _And I think that can be you."_

All of a sudden, Jaune's mind became miraculously at ease. All his doubts and fears melted away and he knew now what he had to do. Slowly, Jaune brought his now steady hands down to his sides and shut his eyes tight.

"No."

Silence was all he got in response, the wind whistling in his ears slightly as he stood his ground.

"What did you say?" Cardin asked threateningly, but Jaune would not be scared into doing what this thug wanted anymore.

"I said.." Jaune repeated with shaking fists, before whirling round and throwing the jar of sap far away from himself, "NO!"

Unfortunately for the boy, he hadn't exactly looked properly when he'd thrown the jar, and instead of sailing through the air harmlessly, the jar struck Cardin dead-centre in the chest, shattering on impact with the boys breast-plate.

Jaune and the others watched on in stunned silence as the red sap slithered down Cardin's chest, staining the boys armour in the process. Jaune immediately took a step back and held his hands up to his face.

" _Oh no!"_ he wailed internally, _"That's not what I wanted to happen."_

"Oh-ho-ho," Cardin chuckled darkly, looking down at his now ruined armour, before glaring at Jaune furiously, "You've done it now."

Wordlessly, the three other members of team CRDL stalked forward and grabbed Jaune by the shoulders, preventing him from escaping. Now fully realising just how much trouble he was in, Jaune once again could only chuckle nervously. Though on the inside, he was desperately screaming out for anyone to notice him.

" _SOMEBODY HELP ME!"_

While all this was going on, Fenrir had started to smile gently. He had sensed Jaune's fear disappear and could guess that his faith in Jaune had been rewarded.

Only, then Jaune's fear came back, and now the other four malicious sources were directing their attention on him.

Nodding his head in resolution, Fenrir turned on his heel and looked up at the small cliff-face in front of him. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were up there.

" _Okay.."_ The Grimm thought to himself, his knuckles cracking as he started to make his way up to the raised platform above him.

" _Now I can get involved!"_

 **A/N: Well, I'm technically back earlier than last time, though still not as fast as I would have liked, so I'll keep working on that. So, Volume 6 is all finished up now. I'll say I enjoyed it for the most part, it certainly gave me a lot of new material, there was just some things I'm a little iffy on. I won't bore you with the details, but you'll know what I mean when we get to that Volume in the story.**

 **Anyways, leave a review, let me know your thoughts, and part 2 is coming soon. See you then.**


	28. Chapter 28: Forever Fall part 2

**A/N: Hello again. Not much to say here other than here is part 2, enjoy!**

Pyrrha was startled by the sounds of a flock of birds flying up through the trees. Worried that a Grimm might have startled them, Pyrrha looked for where the flock had come from, and watched the area with a careful eye.

The area the birds had originated from, was an area above the clearing they were in. Using her highly trained eyes, the green-eyed girl noticed that the grass at the top of the small incline had been disturbed. As if something, or several somethings, had been laying there recently.

" _That's strange."_ Pyrrha thought, worry creasing her brow, _"If it were a Grimm, they would have jumped down and attacked us by now."_

Before the Spartan girl could give much thought to the sudden break in the monotony, the voice of a young girl cut off her concentration.

"Pyrrha," Ruby asked hesitantly, "You okay?"

The younger girl had been drawn towards the fellow red-head when she'd seen Pyrrha seemingly staring off into the distance, a focused yet anxious look on her face. Pyrrha seemed to snap out of whatever daze she was in, and gave a Ruby a half-hearted smile.

"Yeah." Pyrrha answered shortly, before looking back up at the precipice above the clearing.

" _There was definitely something up there,"_ Pyrrha had learned a long time ago to trust her instincts, especially out in a dangerous area like this, _"But it couldn't have been a Grimm, so what was hiding there?"_

An obnoxious slurping sound broke Pyrrha's concentration for the second time that day. Looking down, Pyrrha saw the jar that she had just filled literally seconds ago, was now completely empty again.

"NORA!" Pyrrha yelled off to the side, startling Ruby so much she jumped into the air.

Seeing as the older girl was now busy chiding her teammate, Ruby decided to leave Pyrrha be and go back to her own business. However, as she turned back to re-join her own teammates, the hood-wearing girl became aware that something was missing.

Or to be more precise, someone.

" _Hey, where's Fenrir."_

…

"OOF!"

Jaune grunted as he was knocked back onto the floor for what felt like the dozenth time. No sooner had the boy made the foolish decision to throw the jar of red sap and accidentally hit Cardin in the chest with it, had he been dragged back into the dense foliage by the rest of team CRDL and given the beating of a lifetime.

Really, if it weren't for the boys massive Aura reserves, he was sure that he'd be a bruised, bloody mess by now.

For the past several minutes now, the lanky teen had been forced into a pattern of being held up by Cardin's crew and then being sent back down to the floor by the head brute himself.

Jaune's entire body ached, parts of his face stinging from all the blows he'd received. Jaune's Aura was certainly larger than average, but it wasn't limitless. He could feel it within himself, he was running low.

Before the Blond could give much thought to the idea of making a break for it while no one was holding him, Cardin himself picked the smaller teen up off the ground, reeled his fist back and decked him right across the eye with a left cross.

Another flash of pain dazed Jaune's brain as he was sent careening back down onto the grass. Judging by the fact that it was now really difficult to open his right eye, Jaune felt it was reasonable to assume a bruise was now beginning to form there.

" _Welp! Guess this is where things start getting extra painful."_

"You know that wasn't very smart, Jaune-y boy." Cardin said menacingly, rolling his shoulders as his cronies jeered in encouragement.

Laying on the floor, Jaune couldn't help but agree with Cardin's statement slightly.

" _Yeah, it probably wasn't all that clever."_ He conceded non-verbally, _"But I won't lie, it did feel good."_

Striding forward lazily, Cardin picked Jaune up off the ground again, now keeping him suspended in the air as if the boy was as light as a feather.

"I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny, pieces." The larger boy said, shaking Jaune roughly in his grasp.

Jaune however, barely gave any reaction at all. Despite all the threats, and all the hits he'd taken, Jaune was oddly content. In his mind he was sure, he'd done the right thing, he'd protected his teammate and he was refusing to do what this bully ordered him to do.

"I don't care what you do to me." Jaune said slowly, his voice tinged with lingering pain before staring at Cardin with a resolute frown, "But you are not messing with my team."

Apparently this was not the reaction Cardin was expecting, or indeed hoping for as his cocky smirk transformed into an angered scowl and he held Jaune even higher up in the air.

"What," He questioned, plastering a sardonic grin on his face in an attempt to hide his aggravation, "You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?"

Jaune didn't bother to answer those questions, because in his mind he already knew the answer. If he really was strong, he never would have let a situation like this happen in the first place, he wouldn't have allowed himself to become Cardin's errand boy.

Really, all he was doing now was making up for the mistakes he'd already made. And if he was being honest, doing a rather poor job of it.

" _I know I'm not tough Cardin. You're not telling me anything I don't already know."_ Jaune thought, a self-deprecating smile slowly making it's way onto his face.

This smile, only angered Cardin further and with a furious yell, he went to deliver another savage punch to the Blonds face. Jaune just closed his eyes and waited for the pain that he knew was coming.

" _No matter what happens after this is all over."_ The boy thought in that split second until Cardin's fist connected with his face, _"I'm gonna make sure my team is protected, even if I'm not around."_

Cardin's fist found its target and Jaune was immediately met with a blinding flash of light.

Only, the flash wasn't just behind his eyes, it had actually illuminated the whole area around the boy, as sudden and sharp as a flashbang. And as Jaune's rear became reacquainted with the ground, he became aware of another fact as well.

" _Wait a minute… That- that didn't even hurt!"_

"Agh!" Above him, Cardin let out an exclamation of both surprise and pain, whilst his teammates furiously rubbed at their blinded eyes. Looking up, Jaune watched in bewilderment as the Brunette clutched his now pulsating hand as the knuckles started to turn an angry red.

For Cardin, it felt like he'd just tried to punch a Bullheads hull.

" _What just happened?"_ Jaune questioned, before a high-pitched ringing sound caught his attention.

A second later and the teen realised, the ringing noise was coming from him. Looking down towards his hands, Jaune's eyes widened in shock as he took in what he was seeing.

His hands were glowing with pure white light. He watched in fascination as the white energy travelled across his limbs, brightening and dimming in time with his heartbeat.

" _Is this,"_ He dared to hope, a small smile of excitement appearing on his face, _"Is this my Semblance?"_

Unfortunately before Jaune could give it anymore thought, Sky Lark had gotten rid of the blurry spots in his vision and in retaliation, kicked Jaune in the back, sending the boy face-planting into the floor.

Picking himself up as quickly as he could, Jaune looked up at a now recovered and thoroughly enraged Cardin, whilst Dove and Russel flanked his sides.

"Let's see how much of a man you really are." The larger boy seethed.

Jaune frowned, his hands tightening into fists as he tried to pick himself up off the ground. Whatever had just happened with his Aura would have to wait till later. Right now, he had to find a way to get out of what was sure to be a one-sided beating.

"CARDIN!"

A thunderous voice tore through the air and brought everyone in the clearing spinning around towards the source. What they found caused Cardin to instantly bristle in rage.

Fenrir Lupus walked confidently into the clearing, his blue eyes shimmering with barely controlled fury. Sky and Dove put themselves in front of Jaune, stupidly trying to hide the boy from Fenrir's sight.

The Grimm, however, was focusing more on the bright red stains that covered Cardin's breastplate, and then his gaze shifted towards the shuddering box that was still full of Rapier wasps.

"Ah." The Alpha exclaimed, piecing together what had most likely happened to lead to the scene in front of him, "So that's why you wanted the wasps."

"Buzz off mutt!" Cardin growled threateningly, to little effect.

"And I'm guessing, Jaune didn't agree with your little scheme?" Fenrir continued, daring for one of Cardin's followers to charge at him with just his eyes.

"This is just a little disagreement Grimm," Cardin lied, walking forward slightly in a display of dominance, "Just go back to the others and forget you ever saw this."

Jaune bit his lip in worry. Fenrir was putting on an admirable façade, but Jaune had just caught the miniscule bead of sweat trailing down his temple. He knew this was bad, he was outnumbered four to one, and unlike the fight in the cafeteria, they all had their weapons now.

" _They all know how to use their weapons too."_ Fenrir surmised in his head, _"I've only had mine for less than a fortnight, I'm still trying to figure mine out."_

Still, Fenrir did what all Grimm do when they're in a tough spot. Bit back his fear and stood tall, masking his worry with rage.

"I'm not going anywhere Cardin." Fenrir said lowly, "You've had your fun, now let him go."

Fenrir's tail whipped behind him threateningly, but none of the boys backed down. Jaune shakily, got back to his feet, unable to take a single step forward due to the two bodies in front of him.

"Fenrir!" Jaune called out, trying to show through his face how he wanted the Beowolf to get away.

" _This is bad."_ Jaune's face clearly portrayed his panicked thoughts, _"If his Aura's depleted, we'll all be in trouble."_

"It's alright Jaune." Fenrir looked above the other teens heads to lock eyes with Jaune, "You've done good."

Fenrir gave his best reassuring smile [Though it came off more as a grimace], before focusing his attention back on his greatest annoyance in Beacon.

"Last chance." He rumbled threateningly, tightening his fists as he felt the adrenaline start to rush through his body.

"How about you come over here and make me you rabid furball!" Cardin issued the challenge, bringing his mace up in his hands and brandishing it threateningly at the Alpha.

Emboldened by their leaders bravado, the rest of Cardin's team brought up their own weapons and leered at the wolf. Russell had a pair of daggers that had chambers of Dust in the handles that reminded Fenrir of Weiss's sword. Sky had a menacing looking Halberd, and Dove had a sword that had a revolvers chamber imbedded in the hilt.

" _Daggers, Halberd, Gun-sword and Mace."_ Fenrir listed in his head as his jaw locked tight. It seemed trying to intimidate these idiots into submission was not working.

" _Well, guess there's no avoiding it now."_

The Alpha knew he was at a major disadvantage, but there was no point worrying about that now. As a Grimm, his pride would rather see him fall in battle than run away like a coward.

" _Though I have no intention of dying to these thugs."_

Slowly, Fenrir brought his right arm up in front of his face, then pressed the four pads on his gloves.

SHNNK!

Frostbites blades sprang forth with their usual shimmering brilliance, the daylight being reflected off of the sides of the super-metal like a polished mirror.

"Ooo, shiny." Cardin mocked, seemingly unimpressed by Fenrir's Gauntlets. His teammates, meanwhile, felt their confidence ebb somewhat when they saw that some crazy-person had given the Beowolf _weapons._

Jaune was really panicking now. Any second, a fight was going to break out. Fenrir was strong, but Jaune didn't know if the Alpha could take on all four of them at once. His hands trembled as he desperately tried to will his limbs to reach for his weapons, his sword and shield still on his hip.

" _Come on!"_ He pleaded his body to move much faster than it was, _"I've got to help him."_

Cardin smacked the handle of his terrifying mace against his open hand, grinning maliciously. It seemed he was about to get his pay-back against the mutated monster after all.

" _You should have stayed out of it dog_." Cardin started to walk towards the Alpha _, "Now, you're not leaving this forest alive. Once your Aura's gone, you'll transform. And then… well, you'll just_ _ **fade**_ _away to nothing."_

Fenrir brought all eight blades out now and crouched down slightly as his four opponents continued to march towards him slowly.

Before any blows could be exchanged however, Fenrir felt an icy-cold sensation wash over his body like a wave. The four boys also stopped as they realised the Wolf Faunus had suddenly become unnaturally still, his eyes clouding over slightly. Fenrir's breath hitched in his chest as he quickly realised the presence that was barrelling towards the clearing they were all gathered in.

"You… Idiots." He whispered silently, his arms shaking slightly.

"What did you just call me?" Cardin asked incredulously, oblivious to the threat that was rapidly making its way towards them.

"How do you think I found this place?" Fenrir asked in return.

Jaune now felt like a thousand eyes were watching him from all sides. He could see the Beowolf turned Faunus wasn't even trying to hide his worry anymore, and it was setting him off just by looking at the larger teen.

" _Wait, how did he find us?"_ The Blond boy wondered, before the answer popped into his head not a second later, _"Oh my god!"_

"You sensed the negative energy." Jaune stated aloud, to which Fenrir nodded slowly.

"Nega-what?" Cardin asked in frustration.

"But we're not in Beacon anymore." The Alpha continued, his ears twitching erratically, "And I'm not the only one who sensed it."

Whilst team CRDL just looked at the Grimm in confusion, Jaune instantly darted his head around all across the area. He knew exactly what the midnight-haired boy was talking about and suddenly, the danger felt thick and heavy in the air.

" _More Grimm!"_

A sudden snap of twigs and the rustle of underbrush being kicked up by gigantic feet caught everyone's attention. Craning his neck to look behind himself, Fenrir stared hard into the thicket of bushes, silently hoping that whatever was closing in on them wasn't what he thought it was.

Yeah, right.

"GET BACK!" He yelled, diving out of the way.

Not a moment later, a huge Ursa came crashing through the tree-line, sending chunks of dirt flying up into the air. The Bear-type Grimm towered over all the students present, even when it was down on all fours, long, white spikes covering its back like a horrifically deformed hedgehog. Fenrir was sweating buckets as he glared hard up at the enormous beast, its red eyes searing the thugs that had looked so confident not a second ago.

" **ROOAAAARRRRGGHHH!"**

A bellowing roar tore through the air as the Ursa raised itself onto it's hind-legs. The call of dominance making Fenrir instinctively wince in submission. Then, the Ursa paused to sniff at the air. It could smell the sap of the trees had been spilt in this area quite recently. The beasts eyes soon zeroed in on the source of the scent, and it's mask crunched up in hatred as it saw the sap.

All over the brown-haired Dustlings chest.

The Ursa crashed back onto its front paws and lumbered towards Cardin menacingly. A second booming growl being let loose from its blackened maw as it focused all of it's wrath on this one Dustling, its face conveying its message quite clearly to the boy, who had dared to pilfer from the trees of this forest.

" _You first."_

The four boys had completely lost all of their nerve, Cardin actually trembling in place as he was glared down at by the colossal Bear Demon. Fenrir, likewise, was completely frozen, not daring to move an inch in case he caught the Ursa's attention.

"That's a big Ursa!" The smallest member of team CRDL yelled out.

" _That isn't just an Ursa you moron!"_ Fenrir yelled internally, his eyes once again drawn to the long, needle-like spines on the Ursa's back, _"That's an Ursa Major!"_

Ursa Majors were to Ursa's, what Alpha Beowolves were to regular Beowolves. The best of their type, the natural born leaders of any given pack or herd. And Ursa Majors outranked Alpha Beowolves.

Meaning Fenrir wasn't feeling too great about his chances here.

Russell's obvious outcry seemed to jolt the others out of their stupor. Stupidly dropping their weapons to the ground, Russell, Dove and Sky turned and ran away as fast as their legs could carry them. Cardin looked like he was about to do the same, but a paw that was nearly the size of his whole body knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling across the forest floor.

Fenrir just looked on in stupefied silence.

" _Did they just… drop their weapons and run?!"_ The Alpha felt his blood start to boil at the pure, utter, unashamed cowardice that he'd been unfortunate enough to witness.

" _And they seriously think they're ready to defend all of humanity?!"_

With Cardin knocked off to the side, there was now nothing between Jaune and the hulking mass of fur and bone. The Blond teen's breath became short and rapid, his eyes unable to tear themselves away from the horrific beast in front of him.

The Ursa Major stared down at the small knight, before letting out a snort and turning to instead, re-focus its attention on Cardin.

The Blond Dustlings fear was certainly tempting to the Ursa, but right now it was far more eager to sink its teeth into the defiler first.

Fenrir and Jaune watched on, conflict on their faces as the Grimm stalked towards Cardin, a black tongue gliding along its short, sharp fangs in hunger. The brunette crawled backwards in a pitiful attempt to escape the Ursa's wrath, before he suddenly seemed to remember that he did in fact have a weapon.

Quickly bringing his mace back up to defend himself, Cardin steeled his expression into one that was more natural-looking on his face, that being arrogant and cocky. Cardin's overconfident grin however, died as quickly as a cat being run over by a bus when the Ursa moved surprisingly quickly, and knocked the mace right out of Cardin's hand.

It appeared this Grimm, like the Alpha Beowolf Fenrir had fought not too long ago, was old enough to know that Humans were at a great disadvantage when they were deprived of their weapons.

The mace rolled along the floor, before eventually coming to a stop at Jaune's feet. He looked down at the now useless weapon, then back towards a now very afraid Cardin. It was in this moment that Jaune took stock of the whole situation that was playing out in front of him.

Here was Cardin, his number one bully and tormentor at Beacon, the one person outside of Pyrrha and Fenrir who knew his secret, and unlike the other two, was hanging it over his head like a dangling sword. The perfect blackmail. Now, here he was at the mercy of a merciless monster, alone and helpless.

As horrible as it sounded, a small part of his brain wondered if he should really go out of his way to help the other boy.

That small voice was crushed almost instantly, and Jaune felt a sudden surge of courage well up within his chest.

" _No, that's not what heroes do."_ He said to himself, his arms finally starting to steady out as he reached for his family's sword, _"As much as that guy is a jerk to me, I can't just let him die. I'm not going to be a coward anymore."_

Whilst Jaune was finding his nerve, Fenrir was still struggling to find his.

" **Let him die.** " His primal, Grimm-like half whispered in his mind, **"He's nothing but a nuisance, a pathetic waste of life. He deserves it."**

The Alpha's teeth grit against each other as his body looked like it was on the verge of running towards the confrontation, only to falter at the last moment. He recognised some of the feelings that were churning away inside of him. Instinct told him that if he tried to fight the Ursa Major, he would surely fail. Alpha Beowolves were not as strong as their Ursa counterparts, and Fenrir was still very much a novice in his Human form.

But like always, [Annoyingly] the calm voice dispelled his more sinister thoughts in an instant and attempted to persuade the stubborn wolf.

" _Do you really think the others will forgive you for letting Cardin die?"_ The voice asked calmly, knowing where to hit Fenrir where it hurt.

A growl started to build in the back of the Faunus's throat, his hands balling up into fists and turning his knuckles white.

" _Don't you dare try and guilt me into this DAMMIT!"_ Fenrir yelled in his mind, receiving only silence in return.

The Alpha felt a small sigh of resignation pass over his lips as his senses sharpened in preparation for combat. As much as he wished he were anywhere else right now, he knew there was only one choice he could make here.

If he did nothing, then he was no better than the cowards who had run away from the fight. And Grimm, are not cowards.

" _Oum dammit!"_ Fenrir seethed in frustration, screwing his eyes shut, _"I hate you so much right now CARDIN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

"…RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir's roar ripped through the air as he charged forward at blistering speed. Jaune caught a brief flash of silver, and then watched as the Grimmborn leapt up into the air and stabbed all eight blades into the Ursa's shoulder.

" **YYEEEAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!"  
** …..

A roar of pain shook the tree's of Forever Fall, more burnt red leaves being added to the ones already drifting in the wind. The thunderous sound carried for miles, and caught the attention of a certain group of first-year Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby Rose was the first of their group to voice concern at the distant roaring sound.

The girl narrowed her eyes and peered around the whole area, trying to pinpoint where exactly the noise was coming from. Around her, the others had indeed heard the commotion and were now joining in her search for the source of the monstrous roar.

Some of them were anxious that the noise could potentially be coming towards them, evidenced by their hands twitching unconsciously, starting to reach for their weapons. These nerves were only further exacerbated when three boys came charging out of the underbrush in a dead sprint, panic written all over their faces like they were running for their lives.

"Ursa! Ursa!" The boy with the green mohawk who Ruby believed was called Russell yelled out, looking behind his shoulder and not paying any attention to where he was going.

This lack of awareness caused the boy to run head-long into the Blonde Brawler herself, Yang Xiao-Long.

"What? Where?" Yang asked urgently, effortlessly picking the smaller boy up by his shirt-front, making the boy comically run in mid-air for a second before he realised he wasn't moving.

"Back there!" He answered quickly, pointing back to where he and his friends had just come running from, "It's got Cardin!"

Whilst everyone continued to look up at Russell as he flailed in Yang's grip, Pyrrha felt a sudden clenching feeling in her chest.

" _These three got away. Cardin's with the Ursa, but it wasn't just them. Jaune was with them, so where's…"_

The very instant Pyrrha's mind figured out that the leader of team CRDL wasn't the only one in danger, she dropped the jar of Red Sap she'd been holding and held her hands up to her mouth to try and muffle her fearful gasp.

"Jaune!" She cried out.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A wail of pain echoed across the clearing, sounding much more human than the previous agonised roar. Though strangely, it was still too deep to be one of Jaune's shrieks. A moment passed as the gathered group tried to figure out who that second voice was, before Yang figured it out and looked at Ruby with widened eyes.

"Fenrir!"

It was truly astounding in Ruby's eyes, how the situation had gone from worrying, to bad, to horrifying in a span of just a few seconds. First the fact that Cardin was with an Ursa, then the revelation that Jaune was with him, and then the fact that Fenrir, a naturally bad-tempered Grimm, was also knee-deep in the fire.

" _Alright, serious time Ruby."_ The young leader steeled her expression as she did her best to quickly get control of the situation.

"Yang!" Ruby called out as Russell finally got himself free from Yang's grip and took off after his compatriots, "You and Blake, go get professor Goodwitch."

The two girls in question, nodded briefly at their leader before turning and sprinting off into the foliage, frantically looking for the seasoned Huntress. The second Yang and Blake took off, Ruby reached behind herself to the small of her back. In a typically dramatic flourish, Crescent Rose sprang forth into its scythe form with a series of mechanical whirrs and clicks.

Pyrrha hesitated for a moment, before quickly gathering her resolve and unholstering Milo and Akouo from her back.

Despite his caginess the past few weeks, Jaune was her leader and friend, she couldn't just stand by as he fought for his life against a monster as fearsome as an Ursa.

"You two, go with them!" Pyrrha addressed Nora and Ren quickly, "There could be more."

The pair offered the Spartan girl a nod of their own before taking off after the other two. With that settled, Pyrrha took off after the small speedster, with Weiss trailing behind her, carrying her Dust-filled Rapier.

And all of them hoping that when they found the group of boys, they wouldn't find any Human bodies.

Or giant Wolves.

…..

The reason Fenrir had let out his anguished roar earlier, was because after stabbing the Ursa Major in the shoulder, the Bear-demon had started thrashing wildly to and fro. Using the blades that were now sunken fully into the monsters flesh, Fenrir was just barely hanging on. It was all for naught however when the Ursa leapt backwards and crashed into a pair of thick trees. The Alpha was effectively squashed in-between the hard bark of the trees, and the sword-like spines on the Ursa's back.

His Aura was the only thing that saved him from being impaled instantly, but it couldn't block out the pain of the blow. Hence, the roar.

With this move, the Ursa Major had accomplished its goal of getting the impudent Dustling off of its back. Frostbite's blades slipped out of their puncture wounds in the Bears shoulder blade, the gleaming silver sabres now covered in Blackish-red blood. Fenrir stumbled as he tried to regain his footing.

He found it just in time to duck and roll out of the way, as a lethal-looking paw tried to take his head clean off his shoulders. Great chunks of wood were sent flying all over the place as the Ursa missed its intended target and hit the tree behind Fenrir instead.

The tree wobbled for a second, before falling backwards and slamming into the forest floor from losing too much of its structural integrity. The Ursa stared down at the fallen tree, then growled menacingly before letting loose another booming roar at the Alpha.

When Jaune and Carding looked up at the midnight-haired teen, they expected to see a face of fury, maybe even Fenrir growling back at the colossal Grimm in retaliation.

What they found instead was a face that was a combination of panic and dread. The wolf Faunus's teeth were locked tight together, Jaune could even catch a slight tremor in Fenrir's hands.

" _What's wrong with him?"_ Jaune wondered silently, slowly unsheathing his sword so as to not catch the Ursa Majors attention.

His answer came in the form of Fenrir suddenly yelling up at the larger Grimm.

"PLEASE!" He cried out, "DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!"

Fenrir knew that his plea would fall on deaf ears. Countless times, Humans had begged HIM to show mercy towards them, to spare their lives.

He never did.

But all the same, despite the fact that Fenrir had killed some of his own kind now, the very thought of doing it again left a horrible taste in his mouth. It went against everything he stood for, everything that his parents had taught him.

But looking at the Ursa in front of him, it was clear that the Beowolf didn't have a choice in the matter.

In a shocking burst of speed, the Ursa leapt forward and aimed another swipe at Fenrir's head. The wolf just managed to backstep out of the way of the strike, feeling the Ursa's curved claws ghost across his face. Blindly, Fenrir shot his left arm forward and stabbed the Bear-type Grimm straight in the offending limb.

The long blades tore straight through the Ursa's thick hide and Fenrir briefly saw them poking out the other side of the Bears arm.

" **AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

The Ursa shrieked in pain and snapped its injured arm up into the air. This of course, meant Fenrir was taken for a ride and was now flailing in the air as his blades were once again lodged in the beasts flesh.

" _Got to put this guy down now, before I'm sick in mid-air."_ Fenrir thought frantically as the world smeared around him in a blur of movement. Quickly pressing the pad on his other hands palm, the Beowolf brought about his heavy, steel-coloured revolver around and tried to aim for the Ursa's head.

The first two shots missed completely, Fenrir having extreme difficulty focusing on a target whilst dangling from a Grimm's bleeding arm, but the third bullet caught the Ursa major right on the side of its head, chipping its mask on one side.

The Ursa's crimson orbs flared in rage, and it reeled its other arm back to knock it's attacker off its limb. Fenrir's eyes widened before he was punched straight in the face and sent spinning away. Fenrir's head throbbed from the blow, his Aura having a significant chunk taken out of it from the hit.

Eager for the world to stop spinning around him, Fenrir jabbed his blades into the ground and brought himself skidding to a halt. Unfortunately, the Ursa was done messing around and leapt up into the air. The Beowolf had just enough time to look up, before he was promptly flattened by the full weight of an Ursa coming crashing down on top of him.

"GAHHAHH!" Fenrir gasped as all the air was taken out of his lungs and his body was embedded in the forest floor.

The bad luck continued for the suffering Grimmborn as he was picked up by his head and left hanging in the air as the Ursa glared scathingly at him.

Slowly, the Ursa opened its drooling maw and brought its short, pointed teeth closer to Fenrir's neck. An upswell of his survival instincts kicking in, shook Fenrir out of his daze and he cocked his leg back before kicking the Ursa right in the mouth.

The giant demon roared in pain, dropping Fenrir back onto the ground as it clutched at it's jaw. Seizing the opportunity, Fenrir now unleashed both revolvers and fired point-blank into the Ursa's body.

" _No way I can miss from this distance!"_

Soon, several bullet holes covered the Grimm's hide. The Ursa staggered forward as if in pain and crashed back down onto all fours. Frostbite's revolvers ran out of ammo, evidenced by the sharp clicking sound that came out when Fenrir continued to press the pads.

Wanting to finish this off quickly, Fenrir charged forwards and prepared to shove his blades straight into the Bear Demons skull.

But at the last moment, the Ursa recovered and with lightning fast speed, decked Fenrir right across the head again.

Fenrir yelled as he was flung backwards and crashed into a tree. Wood splinters flew all across the clearing as Fenrir's body lurched from the recoil. Jaune felt the bottom drop out of his stomach when he saw a dark blue haze suddenly envelop the Faunus boys body, before fizzling away to nothing.

" _He's all out."_ Jaune trembled slightly, almost feeling the colour drain from his face as Fenrir collapsed onto the floor.

" _Oh hell."_ Fenrir seethed as his arms shook from the effort of just keeping himself up in a crouched position.

Now that his Aura had broken, he could feel it. A burning, building pressure in the back of his skull, a dark presence that left a buzzing sound in his ears and made the edges of his vision blur slightly. A malevolent force that demanded that he let loose, give in to his rage and unleash it across the whole damn forest.

The Ursa bristled, the spines on its back flaring as it prepared to finish off the slightly shaking Dustling. However, it stopped when it spotted a flash of movement in the corner of its eye.

Cardin initially had just been watching in stunned silence as the Beowolf battled the Ursa. But now that it seemed the dark-haired Grimmborn was down for the count, the Brunette got back to his feet and took off to hopefully re-join his teammates, wherever they were hiding.

The Ursa Major, wasn't about to just let him do that unfortunately.

In an almost graceful fashion, the slightly battle-damaged Ursa jumped right into the path of the sap-covered Dustling and knocked him backwards with a swipe of his claws. Cardin scrambled back to his feet just for the Ursa to knock him down again.

"Crap crap crap!" Cardin grunted as he now tried to drag his battered body back, away from the monster that was out for his blood.

As the enraged Grimm slowly stalked towards the downed boy, Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha came charging out of the bushes, weapons at the ready and eyes frantically searching for their target.

"Oh no." Pyrrha whispered breathlessly as she saw the aftermath of the chaos that had befallen this small corner of the forest.

The first thing the three girls saw was, of course, Cardin on the ground with an Ursa Major leering over him. The next thing they spotted was Fenrir, crouched down and shaking slightly by a tree that had a crater in it.

Ruby felt her heart freeze when she spotted thin, wispy trails of black smoke start to rise off of Fenrir's body, a slight hissing sound entering the girls eardrums.

Fenrir felt like his core was being burned by magma as he felt his rage build and build. The buzzing sound from before had now transitioned into a pounding drumbeat that made it harder for him to focus on anything that was going on around him.

Clutching his head in his hands, the Alpha glared up through his fingers at the figures that had joined the clearing, his eyes constantly switching between cool blue and searing red.

"Rrr **rrrrRRR** RRRrrRRrrrrrr **rrrRRRRRRRGGGHHHH!"**

" _ **So angry!"**_ The Beowolf's mind roared, his senses sharpening as his bestial side gradually took over more and more of his thought processes, _**"Got… to… KILL! Got… to… TEAR AND SHRED!"**_

Whilst Fenrir was steadily losing his mind, the Ursa Major readied it's claws and prepared to land a killing stroke on its downed victim.

All Cardin could do was hold his arms up in front of himself in a pitiful attempt at self-defence as the Ursa charged faster than anyone could react and brought it's massive arm down upon him.

CLANG!

Instead of the sound of torn flesh assaulting everyone's ears, the sound of a heavy weight bashing against tempered metal rang out across the clearing.

Upon realising that his head had not been forcibly removed from his shoulders, Cardin opened his eyes slightly to see what was holding the Grimm up.

What he saw caused him to gape like a fish in shock. A look that was shared by everyone else in the clearing, including Fenrir who was so stunned by what he was witnessing, that his rage was knocked right out of him.

"J-Jaune?"

Indeed, faster than anyone could have predicted, Jaune had appeared out of nowhere and now stood between the Ursa Major and its would-be prey. The boy was using his shield to hold up the Grimm's paw, legs shaking but face set in a firm line, telegraphing to the Ursa that he was not budging.

The Ursa's eyes widened briefly, before it snarled in frustration at having its progress halted again. Grounding it's hindlegs, the Ursa pressed down on the boy's shield and tried to force Jaune out of the way.

The blond knight surprisingly, remained rooted the spot he was standing in, his legs only shaking slightly from holding up the weight of the Ursa.

Meanwhile, Weiss was the first of the girls to be shaken out of her stupor and she prepared to step in to offer the boy some assistance. With all the poise and elegance that was to be expected of a Schnee, the white-haired girl brought the blade of Myrtenaster close to her face and prepared to lunge forward towards the Ursa.

However, just before she could dart across the clearing, an outstretched hand halted her progress.

"Wait."

The Heiress looked up at Pyrrha incredulously, but the taller girl payed her no mind as she continued to stare at her leader intently. One look at Jaune's face told Pyrrha that no matter what, he had no intention of losing to the Grimm.

So she was willing to have a little faith, and to wait to see if Jaune truly could pull through right now.

Even Fenrir had halted in place, letting his arms hang limp at his sides and sheathing his blades back into their casing with a satisfying hiss of hydraulics.

" _Can he do it?"_ The Alpha wondered, _"Can he take on that Ursa Major by himself?"_

" _Lets watch and find out."_ The soft voice responded to his question, the barest tremor of excitement underlying its tone.

Suddenly, Fenrir experienced a very odd sensation. A feeling that some other presence was looking through _his eyes._

The Ursa drew its snarling face closer towards the boy, straining with effort as it tried to crush Jaune under its weight.

However that was a mistake, as Jaune used the Grimm's close proximity as a window of opportunity to counter-attack. Drawing the arm holding his sword back, Jaune swung with all his might at the beasts head.

The Ursa howled in pain as it stumbled back. Crocea Mors had caught the side of the Ursa's head and now the sword's tip was coated in the blood of the Bear-demon. Recovering quickly, the Ursa glared down at its new opponent furiously.

Despite the visible animosity, Jaune kept his expression even and firm.

The Ursa charged and swung its paw down at where Jaune was standing. Quickly, Jaune rolled out of the way and scrappily got back to his feet, red leaves chucked up from the impact of the Ursa's paw hitting the floor.

Before Jaune could hope to get another strike in, the Ursa brought the paw it had just hit the ground with, and dragged it across the floor, intending to take Jaune's feet out from under him. Just in time, Jaune jumped up into the air, narrowly avoiding the Grimm's attack.

But as the teen hit the peak of his ascent, the Ursa moved deceivingly quick for its size and brought its other paw around to hit Jaune in mid-air. Jaune didn't even have enough time to raise his shield as the Grimm's deadly limb caught him dead-centre and sent him rolling across the earth.

Fenrir winced as he saw Jaune take the full-blast of the attack, his confidence in the boy waning slightly as he watched Jaune tumble across the floor. But then the wolf was surprised a second time as Jaune almost instantly got back to his feet and charged at the Ursa Major.

Jaune stumbled forward slightly as he ran, but he quickly regained his footing as he once more leapt up into the air, and prepared to bring his sword down on the Bear's head.

The Ursa saw the attack coming however, and simply batted Jaune aside and sent him spiralling in the other direction.

This time when Jaune finally came to a stop, he laid down on his front and gasped for air. This hit had clearly taken a lot more out of him than the first, and he was already starting to look fatigued.

" _Okay! Clearly this isn't working."_ Fenrir's eyes darted about frantically, and it was only now that he realised that Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha had joined the three boys on the battleground.

Though at the same, he also noticed that next to them was a mid-sized boulder sitting in the ground. He knew it was risky, but Jaune still hadn't gotten off the ground and the Ursa was practically breathing down his neck.

" _Just gotta stay in control. In control, in control, in control…"_

Fenrir repeated this command over and over as he clenched his fists and then shot forward like a cannonball towards the large rock. Ruby's eyes widened in alarm at the sight of the desperate Grimmborn running towards them.

But then her shock turned to confusion as Fenrir ran past her and instead tried to pick up a nearby boulder. Fenrir's claws dug into the grey stone and a vein popped on his forehead as he strained to lift the heavy lump of rock.

"GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir roared in exertion as in a staggering display of strength, he lifted the boulder up on top of his shoulders, dirt showering back down to the ground, and then hurled it straight at the Ursa's side.

The Grimm didn't even know what had hit it as the chunk of stone caught it right on the arm. The boulder shattered on impact and along with the dozens of stones, several of the Ursa's broken spines rained down to the forest floor.

Though the Ursa wasn't really bothered by the loss of a few of its back-spikes. It was more preoccupied by the fact that the boulder had dislocated its shoulder.

Everyone covered their ears at the shrill wail that erupted from the Ursa's maw.

Except Fenrir who just collapsed to the floor, his hands aching and bleeding slightly.

The attack had been enough to give Jaune enough time to get back on his feet. Panting slightly, Jaune looked down at his scroll, the device magnetised to the inside of his shield. The earlier beating he'd gotten from Cardin's gang, added on top of the hits he'd taken from the Ursa, meant that Jaune's Aura level was well and truly in the red zone.

" _Gauging your Aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it's better to move to a more defensive strategy."_

Jaune wished he could put professor Goodwitch's words into practice, but at the sight of the now madly frothing and foaming Ursa, Jaune knew that a defensive strategy wouldn't do much against this force of pure, crazed rage.

" _Well, guess I got no other option but to go for broke here."_ Jaune surmised tiredly.

Summoning up the last of his strength, Jaune let out a defiant battle-cry and charged once more, back into the fray. The Ursa let out a ragged bellow and hauled its body forward on three limbs to meet the Dustling's charge.

The next few seconds seemed to slow down to individual minutes as Fenrir watched the two opponents run into each other. Jaune had his sword raised to swing at the Beasts head, the Ursa raising it's one good paw to crush Jaune's head like an egg. In that brief moment in time that seemed to stretch on forever, Fenrir felt a cold chill rush down his spine as he came to a sharp realisation.

" _Jaune's not moving quick enough! The Ursa's going to hit him first!"_

The Beasts paw was descending rapidly towards the Knights unprotected head. The Blond was raising his shield, but the Alpha could see he wouldn't make it in time. And Fenrir had completely exhausted his strength, so he couldn't rush in and even attempt to take the blow for him.

And then a small movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Looking to his left, Fenrir saw Pyrrha raising a hand towards the two combatants, her face oddly calm and relaxed. The Beowolf felt his eyebrows raise in astonishment as he saw a faint, black Aura envelop the Spartans outstretched arm, and then his eyes turned back towards the battle just in time to witness something that was both confusing and relieving.

Quicker than an eyeblink, Jaune's shield was also covered in the black soul energy, and had seemingly moved of its own accord to protect Jaune's head. The boy's legs buckled slightly from the impact of the Ursa's paw striking his shield, but he was quick to recover and in a blur of movement, brought his sword around and cut the Ursa's head clean off its body.

The fallen monsters head rolled off to the side, the previously burning red eyes, now cold and lifeless, whilst the body wobbled for a second, before falling over to the side and crashing down to the ground, a tiny fountain of blood spurting out from its neck stump.

Fenrir blinked stupidly as his mind tried to absorb and make sense of what just happened.

" _Did... I… Just… what?! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"_

Off to the side, Pyrrha let out a sigh and then lowered her hand with a satisfied smile. Ruby and Weiss were sharing in Fenrir's dumbfounded confusion as they'd also seen Pyrrha's little stunt and were now looking at her with questioning gazes. Fenrir got back on trembling legs and blew out a lingering puff of ashy black air, before making his way as quickly as he could towards the others.

"Uh, what." Ruby broke the silence first, though she was quickly joined by the others.

"The hell was that?" Fenrir wheezed.

"How did you…" Weiss asked more clearly than the battered Grimm.

"Well," Pyrrha said, figuring there was no point to keeping her power a secret now that three of her friend's had clearly seen her use it, before gesturing to the three of them in turn.

"Ruby has her speed, you have your Glyphs, my Semblance is Polarity."

Weiss seemed to gain a look of understanding, Ruby's eyes lit up with wonder.

But Fenrir just looked even more confused than he had before.

" _P-P… Polar-what?"_

Fenrir was about to ask Pyrrha to elaborate, but the small, silver-eyed Huntress beat him to it.

"Ah, you can control poles." Ruby whispered in hushed excitement.

"No, you dunce!" Weiss admonished with a frown, "It means she has control over magnetism."

The younger girl stared down at the floor in mild embarrassment, scuffing the ground with her boots.

"Magnets are cool too." She said while scratching the back of her head.

Meanwhile, Fenrir felt his eye twitch in irritation and his tail bristle up behind him.

" _Magna-whatsit? Alright, I'm getting a little tired of this."_

"Okay, I'm sorry," The Alpha said, catching the three girls attention, "I'm still totally lost, what is magnetism or Polarity? What did you just do?"

"Oh, sorry Fenrir." Pyrrha smiled apologetically, before turning to fully address the confused boy, "In a very VERY basic sense, if it's made of metal, I can control it without having to actually touch it. Watch."

To demonstrate her power properly, Pyrrha raised her hand up again but this time at Fenrir himself. The black energy came out of the girls hand once more and in an instant, Fenrir's left arm was now raised above his head.

Shocked, the Beowolf looked up at his rebelling limb to see it was now emanating that same black Aura. He could still flex his fingers, but his arm was somehow locked in place, no matter how much strength he put into it, his arm would not move.

Until the girl lowered her arm, and the Aura disappeared. Once that happened, the Grimm's arm fell back to his side and he could move it freely again.

"Huh," He remarked as he ran his other hand over the heavy Gauntlet that had just been manipulated, "That's certainly a useful ability Pyrrha."

" _Well, useful against Human combatants certainly."_ Fenrir thought about this new information he'd been given, _"Though not much good against my people because, well, we don't use weapons."_

Satisfied that she'd given the wolf a suitable explanation, Pyrrha turned and began to walk off back the way she'd come. This action seemed to confuse the Reaper and the Heiress.

"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked, figuring that the taller girl would want to check in on her leader.

"Yeah, we gotta tell them what happened." Ruby added on.

"We could." Pyrrha said with a sly smile, "Or, perhaps, we could just keep it our little secret."

At first, Fenrir didn't quite get what Pyrrha was referring to. That is, until he turned to look towards Jaune who was now sheathing his sword back into his hilt. The boy had his back straight, his head up and a proud smile adorning his face.

His presence, in that moment, was that of a proud warrior, revelling in the feeling of victory that Fenrir himself longed to be reacquainted with. In that moment, Fenrir understood the girls motivations.

" _He thinks he beat that Ursa Major by himself."_ Fenrir deduced, not taking into account his efforts in the fight, _"If we told him that Pyrrha saved him at the last moment, it would deal a blow to the confidence he only just got back. Very well… I guess we can let him have this."_

Seeming to agree with Fenrir's inner monologue, Weiss and Ruby shared a gentle smile before preparing to join Pyrrha to go back to the others. Though at the last moment, Ruby dashed back to where was Fenrir was crouched down, apprehensive of the thin, black trails that were still coming off of his body.

"Fenrir, you okay?" She asked tentatively.

The Grimm looked up at her, and it was only now she realised just how strained his expression looked, as if he was fighting off a really bad stomach-ache. Despite the clamminess of his skin, and the miniscule beads of sweat trailing down his forehead, Fenrir gave Ruby a reassuring nod and got back to his feet.

"I'll be okay Ruby, so as long as nothing else… exciting happens."

If he kept himself calm, he was mostly confident he wouldn't just burst into a smoky maelstrom. Ruby still appeared hesitant, but from the looks of things he appeared to be in control of himself. Still, she quickly gave the Wolf a reassuring pat on the back before darting off to who knows where.

Fenrir looked after for a moment, before shaking his head and looking back towards Jaune.

" _She worries too much."_

As all this was going on, Jaune had walked up towards Cardin who was still down on the ground. The larger boy looked up at Jaune with an expression that was both disbelieving, and fearful.

Jaune, small and weak little Jaune, had just defeated and decapitated a huge Grimm. And now he was staring down at the other leader with a stern face. Fenrir, ever a lover of vengeance, was almost hoping that Jaune would lay into Cardin.

So he was a little disappointed when instead of that, Jaune offered a hand towards Cardin to help him back to his feet.

Cardin looked away almost shamefully, half-wondering if this was a trick of some sort. Eventually he relented, and accepted Jaune's hand-up, making an ironic reversal of the two boys positions from a few minutes ago.

"Holy crap, Jaune?" Cardin asked breathlessly, a smile ghosting his face as he couldn't help but be a little impressed at how Jaune had killed that Ursa.

That smile quickly vanished however, when Jaune continued to frown at him and pulled Cardin closer by the hand he was still holding on to.

"Don't ever mess with my team, my… friends, ever again."

There was no tremble, no stutter, no shake in Jaune's words, and for the first time ever, Cardin found himself intimidated by the boy. This was not the same fraud who had tricked his way into Beacon and wilted under Cardin's glare. This, was a leader, putting his foot down and refusing to do Cardin's bidding anymore.

Fenrir, meanwhile, stood on in silent awe. In his very core, he felt a spark of familiarity connect itself to the young Arc. His presence, his commanding Aura, his unflinching gaze, it all reminded Fenrir of something he hadn't felt since he'd become Fenrir Lupus.

"Got it?" Jaune asked, looking Cardin dead in the eyes.

The larger boy couldn't even meet Jaune's stare, the brunette looking somehow smaller in Jaune's presence. In this one exchange, all of Cardin's previous power over the young Arc, had completely evaporated.

Jaune didn't even wait for Cardin's response, [If he even had one to give] he just turned around and walked away, leaving Cardin just standing there looking quite lost.

The knight kept his expression even and calm for several paces, before he remembered that he and Cardin hadn't been the only ones trapped with the Ursa Major. His clear, blue eyes darted around for a second, before coming to rest on the roughed-up Alpha.

"Hey Fenrir, you okay?" Jaune asked, not even paying attention to the small columns of smoke still petering off his form.

What did draw his attention, was the fact that Fenrir was just staring at him. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed, the Grimm looked like he was staring at a life-times supply of Pumpkin-Pete's Marshmallow Flakes.

After a while, Fenrir realised he was gaping at Jaune, and shook his head roughly.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah I'm… I'm alright Jaune." Fenrir answered, trying to get over his sudden stutter, "Aura's broken, but for the moment at least, I'm in control."

Jaune nodded and sighed with relief, placing his hands on his hips. Eventually he looked towards the steadily decaying corpse of the Ursa, and tilted his head when he saw the lumpy, grey rocks that littered the ground that had previously just been covered in leaves.

"Hey uh, Fenrir?" Jaune asked awkwardly, "Did you throw that boulder earlier?"

Instead of answering with his words, Fenrir simply showed Jaune his hands. His palms and fingers were now covered in peeled skin and bloody spots.

"Eeuughh!" Jaune exclaimed.

"I've had worse." Fenrir said with a shrug of his shoulders.

Taking a moment to dust off his hands, the Alpha looked down at the small remains of the Bear-Demon.

"You killed that Ursa Major." Fenrir stated with a nod of his head towards the Blond, "Well done. That is not an easy opponent to defeat, but you did it."

Jaune started to grin, before shaking his head and appearing crest-fallen.

"Yeah buts it not like I did all the work, you were the one who jumped and attacked first."

"Yes," The Grimm rumbled, "And I lost. The victory is yours Jaune, whether I fought or not, you dealt the finishing blow. That's all that matters."

Jaune blinked in surprise. He didn't expect Fenrir to give HIM all of the credit, given his prideful nature. For Fenrir, it was simply a matter of getting Jaune to finally start believing he wasn't a failure.

" _Though I do wish I'd put up a little bit more of a fight. At this rate, it's a wonder my lousy fighting skills haven't gotten me killed."_ The Beowolf thought bitterly.

" _Oh, you did fine. Stop beating yourself up so much."_

Fenrir scratched at his head, growling in irritation at the sweet voice's calming words. Despite all this time putting up with its existence in his head, he still didn't know just who or what this voice was.

The only thing he'd been able to figure out, was that it was a voice that was distinctly feminine in pitch.

Removing himself from his aimless thoughts, Fenrir looked back at Jaune and offered a small grin.

"So, what shall you do now?" He asked.

Jaune responded with a smile of his own. He didn't even have to think long to know what he felt like doing now.

"Now… I think I'm gonna go and see what my team are up to. You want to come with?"

Jaune strode confidently out of the clearing, holding his head high and proud. Fenrir watched after him for a moment before flashing his fanged teeth in an eager smirk.

"Absolutely!"

The wolf jogged for a moment to catch up to the scraggly Blond, before walking along beside him. In his whole life, Fenrir had never felt once, a need to get closer to a Human. But it was there now, and Fenrir found himself wanting to truly connect with the boy next to him.

After all, he'd been at Beacon for well over a month now. And in all that time, he'd never felt the presence of _another Alpha._

…..

When the three boys had re-joined the others in a different section of the forest, they were very quickly accosted by a slightly dishevelled and immensely aggravated professor Goodwitch. Apparently when she'd heard that the Beowolf of Beacon had been involved in a fight against a full grown Ursa Major, she'd sprinted towards the commotion as fast as she could. She didn't want to wait around for an already bad situation, to turn even more horrendous.

Whilst she mercilessly grilled all three boys, the others were confined to being just onlookers. Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha convincingly acted like they had no idea about the events that had transpired a few minutes ago, though they quickly shared a knowing grin with the Beowolf when he looked towards them.

Jaune was quick to explain that he and Cardin had encountered the Ursa by accident, simply stating that the Beast had stumbled across them, took Cardin by surprise and Jaune and Fenrir worked together to quickly cut the Bears head off to stop it from killing the other boy.

Fenrir found it a little odd that Jaune mentioned nothing of how team CRDL had previously been beating the young knight up, and that the Ursa had been drawn towards the negative energy they were emitting. But, considering the Blond most likely just wanted to get this whole mess sorted out as quickly and cleanly as possible, Fenrir felt no harm in just agreeing with Jaune's version of events.

Cardin himself was unusually silent, the only time he contributed to the conversation was when Goodwitch herself asked him if what the other two were saying was the truth. In response, he meekly nodded his head and looked off to the side, refusing to even meet Glynda's eyes.

Finally, the assistant-head of Beacon turned her scrutinising glare towards Fenrir. She looked the midnight-haired Faunus up and down for a second, before crossing her arms and letting her expression become a touch more exhausted.

"Your Aura is broken." She stated, her unvoiced question hovering in the air oppressively.

"The Ursa Major got a few good hits in." Fenrir explained, wincing slightly as he continued to fight through the minor throbbing sensation in his head, "I'll be honest, I wasn't going all out against him. It's… still not easy for me, to kill one of my own kind."

Goodwitch regarded the Alpha for a moment, before sighing quietly and looking at Fenrir with eyes that seemed… gentler somehow.

"I… suppose I can understand that." Goodwitch said evenly, "With that said, thank for you assisting Mr Arc with defeating the Ursa, even if your assistance was only, as you say, minimal."

Reverting her face back to its usual professional indifference, the older Blonde continued.

"In any case, your Aura is still depleted. I have to ask Mr Lupus… Are you at risk of turning?"

Fenrir frowned and appeared to think about it for a moment, before shaking his head and answering Goodwitch's question.

"No, I do not think so. As long as I stay calm, I should be fine until my Aura recovers."

A tense silence followed the Wolf's words.

"Very well." Goodwitch relented, causing Fenrir and Jaune to let out a sigh of relief, "The Grimm has been dealt with, and no one has been seriously injured, so I feel no need to press the matter further. Though I would ask that all three of you stick by your teammates from now on. It's dangerous to be in these woods by yourself. And Mr Lupus, do not attempt to do anything… emotionally taxing for the rest of the day."

With her piece said, Goodwitch turned and walked back to where the Bullheads were located. The second she disappeared into the bushes, both teams RWBY and JNPR were on Jaune, probing him for more details about the fight against the Ursa. Fenrir, wisely backed off, letting Jaune deal with the multi-layered interrogation.

Just as well too, because if he hadn't, he wouldn't have caught Cardin attempting to make an exit towards his own teammates, wherever they were hiding.

" _Oh no."_ Fenrir thought as a sneer formed on his face, _"Jaune may have been merciful to you after all you did to him, but I'm not satisfied."_

Fenrir briskly stalked towards the armoured boy, and yanked him back by his arm, forcing Cardin to look him in the eye. Cardin instantly tried to pry himself free when he saw it was the Grimm who had him in his grip, but it did no good.

"I think Jaune made his point quite clear," Fenrir started quickly, wanting this interaction to be over with as soon as possible, "But because I doubt anything exists in that empty space between your ears, I'll make it extra easy to understand for you. I know about Jaune's fake transcripts, and I'm telling you now. If you tell anyone else about it…"

Suddenly, Fenrir's eyes turned blood red, and the air around him seemed to darken as he pulled Cardin closer towards his twisted face. Cardin felt his anger fizzle away as he stared straight into the burning red orbs. For the boy, it felt like he was staring straight into the centre of a blazing wildfire.

Or looking at the lights of a train… as it raced forward to hit you.

" **NO ONE… WILL… FIND YOU."**

Fenrir's voice was half his own, and half an animalistic growl that sent shivers of dread racing through Cardin's bones. Though, a second later, Fenrir's eyes switched back to their usual dark blue and he'd released Cardin from his hold.

He'd said what he'd wanted to say, he wasn't wasting any more time on the fool.

The Alpha sat down on a tree stump and shut his eyes. He let his senses focus on the forest air around him, taking himself out of his own head, which was still full of less than healthy thoughts. It had been a trying time in the past hour for the young Beowolf, he was more than happy with taking himself away from anything stressful.

"Hey Fenrir!"

The teen Grimm's eyes shot open at the sound of a voice right by his ear. Snapping his head to the right, Fenrir found Jaune looking at him with a concerned look. Forcing his breath to come out evenly, and brushing his shoulder to get rid of the sudden smoke build-up, Fenrir addressed the Blond leader.

"What is it?" Fenrir asked quickly.

"I just had a thought," Jaune talked quickly, "Those wasps Cardin wanted to use, they're still up on the hill, in that box."

Fenrir furrowed his brow in thought, before letting his features relax and nodding at the young knight.

"Not to worry," The Alpha said, "I saw the box on my way to you, I opened it. In time, those wasps will build themselves a new nest, hopefully unbothered by the likes of us."

Instead of being comforted by Fenrir's words, Jaune instead grew fearful and looked up towards the incline where he and team CRDL had been hiding not too long ago.

"So, they're free and out right now?" He asked quickly.

"Yes." The Grimm responded slowly, now starting to look up at the hill himself, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

The two continued to swap looking at the hill, then looking at each other, before the navy-eyed Grimm got up from his wooden seat.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else?" Jaune suggested with a wobbly smile.

"Yeah, best not to take any chances." Fenrir concurred.

Before the two could make their suggestion to find some other, wasp-free section of the forest, the others seemed to be preoccupied with some commotion on the other side of the clearing.

"There's something moving out in the tree's" Ren responded quickly to Jaune's questioning look.

Jaune instantly became panicked, reaching for his sword as he looked through the tree's. It wasn't fair, he'd just done this song and dance with an Ursa earlier, was he really about to do it again?

Fenrir, likewise, didn't want to put himself through anything frantic right now. Though as he felt out for any Grimm presence in the immediate area, he was confused when he found no such thing.

" _Weird, but there's definitely something moving around out there."_

As the group of nine looked around for anything not made of wood or grass, a sudden flurry of movement caught their attention, and Yang, Nora and Pyrrha had to quickly dart backwards as a creature joined the Humans and Grimm.

Everyone stood in shock and awe as a magnificent stag slowly trotted into the clearing. Chestnut fur, a lean yet powerful body and impressively large antlers left Fenrir to believe that this stag was a herd leader. The wolf looked up at the stag as it pawed the ground nervously.

" _How long has it been since I last saw one of you?"_ Fenrir wondered to himself as he felt the corners of his mouth turn upward.

Though his wonder was cut short when he saw the stag was gradually getting more and more restless. The others backed off warily as the deer lowered its antlers towards them threateningly.

"Woah, easy boy." Ruby called out gently, holding her hands up to try and placate the young Buck.

The stag billowed steam from its nostrils as it dragged its hooves through the dirt. Fenrir winced as he realised what was happening. The deer was clearly agitated, and not just because Humans were here.

The way it was acting, Fenrir felt it reasonable to guess that the rest of the herd was close by, so it was on the defensive. Along with that, animals such as this one, were incredibly perceptive beyond what most would assume for simple creatures.

Meaning things such as _disguises_ weren't going to do a whole lot of good right now.

" _I need to diffuse this situation."_ The Alpha thought with a sigh of resignation.

Many Huntsmen and Huntresses knew that confrontations between Grimm and animals were rare, if they ever happened, it was over territory and nothing else.

However, what none of them knew, was that the creatures of Grimm, the dark destructors, got no pleasure from these encounters. In fact, they would do everything they could to avoid them.

"Fenrir, what are you doing?!" Weiss asked harshly as Fenrir walked straight up to the stag.

"Put your weapons down and get back!" Fenrir barked back in response.

The others looked between each other in uncertainty. Their nerves only grew worse still, when as the Grimm got closer to the deer, it started to grunt and thrash in fear.

" **DREM!"**

[Peace]

With one word, the whole forest seemed to come to a stop. The stag ceased it's erratic movements and seemed to stare curiously at the dark-haired male. The others, [With the exception of Ruby] looked at Fenrir perplexed. To them, it had sounded like the Grimm had growled at the deer, yet some like Jaune, could have sworn they heard a word underneath the animalistic garble.

Taking a deep breath, Fenrir began taking cautious steps towards the beast, its eyes never wavering from his own. As he got closer, he held his hands up, palms open, to show he wasn't about to try and gut the animal.

" **VER PRAETA NI KATU TIL GRAH!"**

[We are not here to fight]

To everyone's amazement, the animal appeared to tilt his head in understanding, relaxing its body and raising its head as the Alpha continued to approach.

"Is… Is Fenrir speaking to it?" Jaune asked breathlessly.

"Yep!" Ruby piped up, before grinning awkwardly as she saw all eyes were now on her, "Uh heh… So, it turns out the Grimm used to have their own language, and Fenrir's one of the few who remembers it."

The more studious members of the group, like Weiss and Pyrrha, instantly looked at Fenrir with renewed fascination. To find out that savage creatures like the Grimm used to have their own method of communication, was something that came completely out of left field for everyone.

Fenrir was now feet away from the stag, keeping his posture low so as to appear as non-threatening as possible to the animal. The stag pawed at the ground as Fenrir finally came to a stop.

" **KOMEYT MU KAF, EDA VER FENT LIDA DAAR VEND."  
** [Let us pass, and we shall leave this place]

Everyone held their breath as a silent moment passed where the Deer seemed to ponder the Beowolf's words. Then, slowly, the deer lowered its head, and took a few steps towards Fenrir.

Fenrir exhaled in relief, before closing the gap and gently placing his hand on top of the stags muzzle. Everyone felt tension release in their shoulders as it appeared as if the Grimm had managed to calm the beast down. Fenrir spent a few, calming moments running his hand up and down the Deer's face, before lightly tapping his forehead against the stags own, and closing his eyes.

" **NID MA DREYRI FENT KOS PRAUSH NU. SASI ZU'U VAHRIIN MAB MINN ZIN OL AAN GRIMMR"**

[No more blood shall be spilt today. This I swear on my honour as a Grimm]

The two stayed like that for a time, before the stag pulled away, observed the humans behind the Grimm, then galloped back into the forest as quickly as it had arrived. Fenrir watched the spot where the stag had vanished, a small smile pulling at the left half of his face, before turning back to the others.

" _I suppose I should have believed my mother when she told me this speech would be useful. Certainly saved me from an unpleasant situation today."_

The others wasted no time and hit Fenrir with a barrage of questions. Unlike before, Fenrir couldn't use Jaune as a buffer, so all he could do was wince as multiple voices tried to be heard over the rest of the cacophony of audio.

"What was that?"

"What did you say to him?"

"Can all Grimm talk?"

"Who taught you?"

"Have you ever tried talking to people like that?"

"Why did you…"

"GUYS!"

Fenrir's biting retort cut across everyone else's questions, silencing them all in an instant. The Alpha glared at them for a moment, before releasing a tired sigh.

"I was speaking Grimmspeech." Fenrir explained curtly, "No, not all Grimm can talk, in fact it's a dead language for the most part. I was taught by my parents who were in turn taught by a pack of Goliaths. All I said to that Buck was that we were just passing through and not here to start a fight."

Fenrir finished his explanation by folding his arms and giving the gathering of Huntsmen and Huntresses very pointed looks. At first, it seemed as if everyone would pick up on his hint and not question him any further.

That hope was short-lived however when Yang started to raise her hand as if to ask another question. Fortunately, somebody else picked up on Fenrir's discomfort and stepped in at the last second.

"Actually guys," Jaune said quickly, "If that's the case, we should probably move away from this area. We don't want to risk that big guy coming back and finding we haven't moved."

Yang pouted, before nodding her head along with the rest of them in resignation. Fenrir offered a subtle nod of gratitude to the scraggly Blond at his interjection. Gradually, the group started to walk away to a different section of the forest, Jaune talking to Pyrrha about how he had to go retrieve his jar of Red Sap from where it had been left behind her.

Eventually, the only person left in the clearing, was Fenrir himself, watching as the others slowly departed.

Him, and one other person.

"So is there a deer herd nearby?" A high-pitch voice snapped the Grimm out of his contemplative reverie.

Fenrir let out a huff of aggravation, turning to the person who had broken his blissful silence. That irritation quickly faded when he saw Ruby looking up at him, her silver eyes alight with excitement. Clearly the idea of seeing such graceful creatures out in the wild was very appealing to the younger girl.

Looking away from the cloak-wearing girls eager face, Fenrir looked out back towards the trees, his ears perking up as he caught some faraway sounds that were quite familiar to one who had spent almost all of his life outdoors.

"Yes, quite close in fact." Fenrir said, "Can you tell where they are?"

Ruby blinked at the sudden question. Looking towards where Fenrir was staring at and scrunching her nose up in concentration. Fenrir watched in morbid fascination as Ruby's face turned as red as her namesake as she held her breath.

Eventually, her body's demand for oxygen got too much and she took a deep gulp of air. With a sigh of disappointment, Ruby crossed her arms and pouted childishly.

"No, I'm not getting anything."

Despite the girls visibly sad mood, Fenrir couldn't help but crack a mocking grin.

"Really," He exclaimed exaggeratedly, "That's strange. I thought you Huntresses were incredibly perceptive. Able to spot an attack before it happened, eyes in the backs of your heads and all that nonsense."

It was clear from Ruby's frown that she did not appreciate Fenrir's sudden sarcasm. Fenrir stifled a chuckle as Ruby glared at him, trying her best to look scary and failing spectacularly. Shaking off his amusement, Fenrir's cold, blue eyes warmed slightly as he took several steps towards the thicket of trees. Curious, Ruby followed after the young wolf, both of them oblivious to a pair of amber eyes watching them from the shadows.

"Here!" Fenrir exclaimed as he walked through the forest, his feet automatically adjusting to the uneven forest floor from the years of experience in this environment, "When your out in the REAL Remnant, you need to use more than just your eyes. You have to listen, feel, even smell the air around you."

Crouching down, Fenrir beckoned for Ruby to follow suit. The red-head did so, her face rapt with attention.

"The forest is telling a hundred stories at once, at any given time." Fenrir carried on, flexing his fingers as he placed his palms on the soft earth, "It's up to you, as a Hunter, to sort through them and find the one you're looking for. Now, place your hands on the ground and just… listen."

Ruby appeared hesitant for a second, before shrugging and copying what the Alpha was doing and placed her palms on the floor. Shutting her eyes, Ruby waited to see if she could feel anything as Fenrir suggested she would. After a while however, her impatience got the better of her and she groaned in annoyance.

"I don't feel anything!" She said irritably.

Instead of responding with anger or annoyance as she expected him to, the Grimm instead gave Ruby an oddly wistful look. To the Beowolf, Ruby was behaving exactly as he did when he'd first been taught how to hunt by his parents.

They had not been impressed with his petulance. Knowing this, Fenrir didn't think it best to give Ruby a whack across the head like he'd been given. So instead, he placed a gentle hand on the girls shoulder and gave her an encouraging nod.

"Concentrate," He grumbled in that bassy voice that carried far in the open air, "I know your Semblance makes you fast, but sometimes it pays to slow down and watch the world around you. So try again, and really feel it this time."

Ruby bit her bottom lip apprehensively. Asking her to slow down and be patient was a tall order, but she really didn't want to pass up the chance to see a whole herd of deer. Sure, Patch had plenty of wild animals to watch if you knew where to look, but it wasn't nearly big enough to support deer. So, with a slight shrug, Ruby brought herself back down and pressed her palms flat against the dry soil. Again, at first she felt nothing.

But, as she willed herself to be patient, her senses gradually started to sharpen, and suddenly… she felt it. Small, barely noticeable, she picked up slight tremors in the ground that were coming from a specific direction.

"Hey… I'm getting something!" Ruby called out, her body swelling up with prideful excitement.

"What is it?" Fenrir asked, already knowing what it was, but willing to play along at the sight of Ruby's grin.

There was something about it that was oddly pleasing to him.

"I… I can feel… HOOFBEATS!" Ruby yelled out, before quickly standing up and bursting away in a flurry of petals that blended well with the red leaves floating in the air.

The Grimm shut his eyes instinctively, before growling and making his way leisurely towards where the young Reaper had darted off to.

" _They're petals for Oum's sake. Get over it, they can't hurt you!"_ The Alpha admonished his own fear as he swatted the petals out of the air.

His aggravation once again disappeared when he caught up to the silver-eyed girl and saw her looking out across a cliff-face to a valley below.

"Wow…" Ruby breathed out in astonishment as she took in the beautiful sight beneath her.

A herd of around two dozen deer were seen grazing on the red grass that gleamed in the midday sun. At the front of the group, Fenrir spotted the young stag, surveying his herd with a careful eye. If he squinted, Fenrir could make out some Fawns huddled together in the centre of the group.

And if he turned his gaze upwards, he could just make out an Ursa watching from beyond the treeline. Not hunting, merely observing as the herd carried about its business.

" _This making you nostalgic?"_ The gentle voice asked coyly.

Fenrir didn't pay it any mind as he simply folded his arms and stood next to Ruby, breathing in the rich, comforting scent of the great forest.

"Why?"

Fenrir blinked as Ruby's question caught him off guard. Looking at the small girl with a quirked eyebrow, Fenrir asked for clarification.

"Why what?"

"Why did you act so calm with that stag before?" Ruby clarified, "I'm not complaining but, I thought you would just bite his head of or something. I mean, I've heard of Grimm killing animals before."

Fenrir narrowed his eyes slightly, before relaxing and bringing his flared temper back down to acceptable levels. It wasn't Ruby's fault he reasoned, of course Ruby would think his kind were nothing but simple killers. After all, the Grimm were Humanity's primary tormentors, of course they'd think lowly of them, just as his people thought lowly of Humans.

However, there was a difference between being soulless and being mindless.

"We do kill animals, yes." Fenrir began slowly, "But not if we can avoid it. Truthfully, killing Dust… Humans is only one half of our duty. The other half is… this."

On that last word, Fenrir gestured to the valley below him.

"We're not just fighters, we're caretakers. We make sure the world keeps turning, and that all is as it should be. Just like that Ursa is doing down there."

The Alpha extended his pointer finger and Ruby followed the direction of the digit until she too saw the Ursa. Resisting the instinctual urge to grab her beloved Scythe, she instead gazed down curiously as the Demon observed the herd from afar.

"What is he doing?" She asked aloud.

"He's counting." Fenrir explained, "Making sure the Herd has enough members to survive any future hardships, but not so many that they end up damaging the plant-life in this area from over-eating."

Ruby watched, enraptured as she could now see that the Bear was indeed looking at each deer individually before moving on to the next. Not long after, the Ursa gave a miniscule nod before turning away and disappearing behind the thick, wooden trunks.

"What happens then? If it's too few or too many?"

Fenrir took in a deep breath, before continuing.

"If the Herd is too small, the Ursa would ward off any nearby predators, to allow the Herd time to recover its numbers. Too many, the Ursa would instead funnel predators towards them and bring the body count back to an… acceptable level."

Fenrir remembered having to do such a thing may times in the past, finding it boring and mundane, but carrying it out dutifully. His parents were quite insistent that he remember this part of his mission, stressing the importance of keeping balance in the natural world.

Ruby was in awe. If anyone else had told her that the creatures of Grimm were capable of being this meticulous and… careful, she would have thought her sister was setting up some kind of prank to pull on her.

But seeing as it came directly from the source, from a Grimm turned Faunus, she felt like she didn't have a choice but to believe what she was hearing.

"I… I had no idea your… um… People were like this."

Fenrir huffed good-naturedly, before sitting down at the cliffs edge.

"It's not something we brag about." He said, "Truthfully, I think we still MUCH prefer fighting. But, it is part of our duty, so we do it without complaint."

Ruby wanted to ask just what it was exactly, that was the Grimm's duty. But, she felt like that was a sensitive subject, one best tackled for a later time. So instead, she sat down next to the relaxed Beowolf and breathed in the comforting atmosphere that had formed around the two.

For a time, the only sounds Fenrir could here was the whistling of the wind and the occasional call from a cervine below.

And then, he could just make out the sound of Ruby talking to herself.

"Dre… dreem… drum… No that wasn't it."

Fenrir's lupine ears perked up and his tail swayed slightly as he realised what the small girl was trying to do.

" _Is… she trying to… Speak the Grimmspeech."_

The Alpha watched in slight surprise as Ruby's face was one of pure concentration, her mouth struggling to wrap around the foreign words. After watching the girl struggle for a moment, Fenrir decided to offer his aid.

" **DREM"** He growled, startling Ruby a little, "It means 'Peace'."

" _Is it bad that I kind of wonder why the Grimm would ever need the word 'Peace' in the first place?"_ Ruby asked herself, wincing slightly at the thought.

Shaking her head, Ruby did her best to try and repeat Fenrir's tone and inflections on that single word.

"D- Drem."

"More from the gut." Fenrir advised, patting a hand against his stomach, "The Grimmspeech is a tongue that was made to sound dangerous, threatening even, so it has to come from a place deep inside your body."

Concentrating, Ruby tried to imagine forcing her voice into her belly, and gave it another go.

"Dre… ***UURRPP*!"**

Ruby's entire face became a furious red as she covered her mouth. It was no good, from the wide-eyed stare the Alpha was giving her, it was obvious that he realised that she'd unwillingly burped right in his face.

" _Oh no! He's gonna blow for sure."_ Ruby thought worryingly.

However, instead of roaring and raging, the Grimm instead became as still as a statue.

And then his shoulders lurched, his eyes creased, and his face twitched.

"PFFTTHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA… GAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… OH MY OUM… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Fenrir felt like his sides were about to rip themselves off his body, he was laughing so hard. It was a miracle he hadn't startled the nearby deer as he hollered exuberantly. He couldn't even keep himself upright as his arms wrapped around his mid-section to try and stem the laughter, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

Ruby, meanwhile, was less than amused at Fenrir's laughing at her expense. The blush on her face became even redder as she puffed out her cheeks and clenched her fists. Before Fenrir could even get time to catch his breath, Ruby tackled him and started yanking on his wolf ears.

"STOP LAUGHING AT ME YOU BIG, FURRY MEANIE!"

"O-OW! Get off me you weirdo!" Fenrir exclaimed as he tried to bat Ruby's shorter arms away from himself, a wide grin not leaving his face the entire time.

As Fenrir tried to escape Ruby's furious clutches, a bow wearing Faunus watched them from up in the branches, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

" _Well… those two are certainly getting along."_

…..

After that, the rest of the day was largely uneventful. Before long, Fenrir's Aura had completely recovered and soon, it was time to head back to Beacon.

" _Well, it was nice while it lasted."_ The young wolf thought sadly as he turned to look at the bright red forest one last time, before turning to enter the Bullhead.

" _There will be other opportunities to come back here. Don't you worry about that."_ The melodic voice whispered reassuringly.

The trip back was likewise pretty normal, though Fenrir noted happily that Jaune was being far more receptive towards the whole group now than he had been before.

Though, from the few wayward glances he sent in Pyrrha's direction, he could tell there was still one more conversation the Blond boy needed to have before he could consider the matter with Cardin closed for good.

" _Well, good luck to you Jaune. I'm sure you'll be able to clear things up between you two."_

It surprised Fenrir just how sincere he was being with that statement, but he was. After what he'd seen in the forest hours ago, Fenrir had a sudden swell of confidence in the young Huntsman.

Which Reminded the Grimm that he also needed to have a talk with the young knight, though that could wait until later.

Didn't want to overwhelm the boy after all.

In no time at all, the group of first-years touched back down on Beacon academy's school grounds and began immediately departing for their dorm rooms.

The Beowolf gave a casual wave of farewell to the others, before he too decided to slink back to his little den in the bowels of the academy. On the way, Fenrir watched as the golden sun slowly disappeared beneath the tree-line and turned the sky a rich, warm orange. On and on, the wolf walked through the busy halls of the proud academy, his shadow splashed against the walls.

As he descended down the flight of stairs that lead to his quiet little piece of Beacon, Fenrir suddenly felt an unusual wave of tiredness pass through his body. Stopping on the stairs briefly, the Grimm let out a long breath of air and let his shoulders sag from the weight brought upon by the stresses of the day.

" _Well… today was certainly an experience."_ The leather-wearing teen remarked as he ran a hand down his face.

It was made all the more ludicrous when Fenrir remembered that today was supposed to be about collecting tree sap.

" _Oh well. At least that whole tiring situation with Jaune and Cardin is taken care of now. Hopefully things will return to normal tomorrow. Well, as normal as things get around here."_

Figuring now was a good time to rest his brain, Fenrir straightened himself back up and carried on to his room. The Alpha decided he'd get some homework done before doing his usual night-time excursion on the rooftops.

Rounding the corner however, Fenrir found himself halted in place by a familiar sight of grey hair and tinted glasses.

"Ah, Mr Lupus," Professor Ozpin exclaimed, a calm smile on his face, "I was wondering when you would arrive."

Fenrir shut his eyes and winced in annoyance as he felt that familiar jolt of surprise run down his spine, as it did whenever the enigmatic headmaster appeared out of nowhere.

"How long were you waiting for me down here?" Fenrir asked, tired irritation seeping into his voice.

"Not long I assure you." Ozpin answered with a chuckle.

Fenrir just gave Ozpin the best withering glare he could muster. It didn't last long, the beast simply too tired to remain angry at the older man.

"What do you want?" The Alpha said gruffly.

"I heard you had an… intense encounter with an Ursa Major whilst you were out in the forest of forever Fall." The headmaster responded, his expression suddenly turning to one of concern as he took a few steps towards the young Beowolf, "Are you alright?"

Fenrir's brow furrowed as he found himself taken off balance by the look of sincere worry in the seasoned Huntsman's eyes. Fenrir found himself with an unsettling feeling in his stomach, and he quickly averted his eyes away from Ozpin's face.

"I… I'm fine." He got out hurriedly, "Nothing serious, really."

The older man continued to look at the blue-eyed Faunus, before relenting and stepping back a bit.

"Though, things would have gone a lot worse if Jaune hadn't been there." Fenrir blurted out quickly, eager to shift the subject somewhat.

Ozpin could clearly see what Fenrir was trying to do, and could also sense that the Beowolf was still unused to others being concerned about his safety. Still, Ozpin decided to play along as it did lead into something he had meant to discuss with Fenrir anyway.

"So I heard," Ozpin said, letting a small smile cross his face again, "An impressive feat wouldn't you agree Mr Lupus? Killing a full grown Ursa Major. I can't even remember the last time I heard Glynda sound so surprised."

"Yeah," Fenrir agreed light-heartedly, scratching the back of his head, "It surprised me too. I'm… actually a little jealous honestly."

"Indeed." Ozpin murmured, his smile suddenly turning a bit sly, "Mr Arc has certainly come a long way… especially in such a short frame of time."

Fenrir tilted his head to the side. He didn't know why, but the way Ozpin said that last sentence made a growing sense of anxiety start to build in the back of the Alpha's skull.

"Um… I- I don't… fully know what yo…"

"Oh, I'm just referring to how Mr Arc started this year with absolutely zero combat experience, no prior Huntsman education and was arguably one of the lowest performing fighters we've ever had in the sparring ring." Ozpin remarked in a tone that was more along the lines of someone discussing the weather.

Fenrir, meanwhile, nearly had to stop his eyeballs bursting out of his head. He felt like his heart had forgotten how to keep blood flowing, even his tail had come to a dead stop mid-air.

"I uh, you…" Fenrir stammered, before forcefully swallowing the lump in his throat, "You knew?"

"Mr Lupus," Ozpin exclaimed in an over-the-top tone, "I've been headmaster of Beacon for many, many years. It will take a lot more than some hastily forged transcripts to trick me into letting you into my school."

Fenrir stood with his mouth agape for a moment, before shaking his head and shooting a look at the enigmatic professor. A look that said, 'I can't for the life of me figure you out'.

"Bu then… why?" Fenrir asked slowly, "Why let him in in the first place if you knew his transcripts were fake?"

Ozpin pondered the question for a moment, before walking up to the Grimmborn, tapping his cane against the stone floor as he went.

"Because I saw potential in him." Ozpin answered simply, "And I think today, you saw that potential as well. I am quite familiar with the Arc family name, more familiar than most, certainly. I believe, in time, and if he commits himself fully during his stay here, young Mr Arc will be able to accomplish his dream of following in his predecessors footsteps. This place will make a Huntsman of him yet"

Fenrir stood silently, absorbing Ozpin's words. Meanwhile, the headmaster began to make his way toward the flight of steps Fenrir had just walked down.

"Do you want to know something else Mr Lupus?" Ozpin asked, "I see that same potential in you as well. The potential to be a strong, steadfast force for good. You're showing it to me right now in fact. When I revealed that I knew about Mr Arc's falsified documents, you became… worried that I would get rid of the boy. You've grown fond of him, and you don't want to see him leave. Do you?"

Fenrir bristled slightly at the realisation that the older man had been analysing him so thoroughly. But again, whether due to exhaustion or… something else, Fenrir felt his anger quickly subside.

"So… You're not going to get rid of him then?" The boy asked hesitantly.

Ozpin regarded the Grimm for a moment, before offering the anger-filled teenager a warm, gentle smile.

"No, of course not. Just as I'm not going to get rid of you, no matter how much some people might demand I do so."

Fenrir's breath came out as a shudder, that swell of warmth wrapping around his chest like a freshly dried blanket.

The Demon looked down at his wringing hands, his tail flicking behind him slightly. Eventually, he mustered up the nerve to look the grey-haired man in the eyes with a grateful expression

"Thank you… Professor."

" _Using honorifics now, are we?"_ Ozpin mused, _"Well, I suppose that's a clear indication of progress if ever there was one."_

"You're welcome." Ozpin said with a nod of his head, "Goodnight Mr Lupus."

And without another word, the headmaster turned and began to ascend back up to the academy proper.

"Goodnight." Fenrir called back.

Once he heard the sound of footsteps fade away, Fenrir turned to enter his bedroom, shaking his head and stifling a chuckle.

" _He is a strange man."_ He thought to himself, _"But I won't lie, he is starting to grow on me."_

…..

Jaune Arc found himself standing on top of a familiar rooftop, watching as the moon gently floated across the night sky. The rest of his team had gone to get dinner a few minutes ago, but the Blond had quickly pulled himself away, simply saying that there was something he had to do.

His expression was one of intense inner conflict. For the most part, it seemed his time as Cardin's lackey had come to an end. The other leader hadn't tried to contact him once since they'd all left Forever Fall forest.

Yet despite this good news, Jaune couldn't be happy. Not yet at least. There was still one last thing he had to do.

" _But what do I say?"_ He wondered fretfully, _"How do I make up for the things I said?"_

Jaune's initial plan had been to come up here and carefully plan out just what he wanted to say to his partner, and make carefully sure he didn't say anything that could potentially make the invincible girl even more cross at him.

However, a spanner was quickly thrown into that plan at the simple sound of a door opening behind him.

"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha asked sarcastically as she walked up beside Jaune, "I thought you two were best buds?"

Jaune did an admirable job of hiding his surprise as he turned to face the red-head, though the girl just caught the slight hitch in his breath as he looked her in the eyes.

The young knight quickly realised that it was just him and Pyrrha on that rooftop, he could say what he wanted to say right now, and this whole messy affair would be over with in just one day.

But he still hadn't figured out what he wanted to say yet. A fact, that quickly caused panic to well up inside of him. Though, as he watched as Pyrrha continued to calmly look at him, patiently waiting for his response, he felt his panic be replaced with guilt.

" _How can she still be so caring toward me? After everything that happened between us. I don't deserve someone like her as a teammate."_

Shaking away his sudden, self-deprecating thoughts, Jaune steeled himself and resolved to say what he needed to say… right now.

It was time to finish this.

"Pyrrha," Jaune began, his voice thick with regret, "I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You were only trying to be nice and I-I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head…"

"Jaune." Pyrrha suddenly cut off Jaune's gradually building diatribe and continued to look at him with those soft, green eyes that seemed to instantly melt away his anxious thoughts, "It's okay."

Jaune blinked in disbelief. Pyrrha couldn't have possibly forgiven him so quickly, but looking into her eyes, Jaune could find no trace of trickery or lingering anger.

The Spartan had seen the boys true strength today, and it had dashed away any unwanted doubts she might have had about the leader of team JNPR.

She didn't care what the boy thought of himself, as far as she was concerned, he'd earned his spot at the academy.

Jaune could do nothing more but smile gratefully at Pyrrha, once more thanking the Gods that he'd lucked out and gotten her as his teammate.

"Your team really misses their leader, you know." Pyrrha said after a moment of comfortable silence passed between the two.

"Yeah," The boy replied, letting out a huff of humour as he recalled an earlier conversation he'd had with a certain wolf-eared Faunus boy, "So, I've been told."

"You should come down." Pyrrha suggested as she turned to walk back off the roof, "Ren made Pancakes~"

Jaune would have joined Pyrrha immediately after hearing that, still riding the high that his apology had gone down so well. But then, his reminiscing of his late-night excursion with Fenrir, brought up a memory of something the Grimm had said.

" _Accepting help from others does not make you weak."_

Even after her acceptance, Jaune still didn't hold much hope that Pyrrha would be willing to extend her offer to him a second time. But still, he had to try, if he ever wanted to truly be a great leader, then he needed the skills to back it up.

And that simply would not happen on its own. Jaune got it now, he needed all the help he could get.

"No syrup, though, you can thank Nora for that." The girl continued, unaware that Jaune wasn't following her.

"Wait!" Jaune called out, stopping her dead in her tracks.

A tense moment of silence passed between the two as Pyrrha stared at Jaune curiously, before the boy finally regathered his nerve and pushed on.

"I know I don't deserve it after all that happened," He began steadily, "But, would you still be willing to help me? To help me become a better fighter."

Pyrrha turned away from Jaune, hiding her face from view. Jaune's smile started to falter as his mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that the girl was about to refuse his request.

However, because Jaune could no longer see her face, he didn't catch the wide grin that Pyrrha made as she felt relief flood through her body.

" _It took a little longer than I would have liked."_ The Spartan thought to herself, _"But we got there in the end. Just needed to have a little faith."_

When Pyrrha finally spun round to face Jaune, her face was set back into a far more neutral expression as she slowly made her way towards the scraggly teen.

Before Jaune could even begin to question what Pyrrha was doing, the girl quickly lunged forward and pushed Jaune to the ground.

"Hey!" The Blond yelled indignantly as he was abruptly forced onto his rear.

" _What was that for? I thought things were cool with us now."_

"Your stance is all wrong." Pyrrha explained professionally, placing her hands on her hips as she talked, "You need to be wider and lower to the ground."

" _Oh."_

Jaune smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. It would seem the lesson had already begun.

Gratefully accepting the hand-up, Jaune brought himself back up to his feet, keeping his hand locked with Pyrrha's own.

"Lets try that again." His new teacher said with a nod.

And so the two spent the better portion of the night going over various combat exercises and planning out a schedule that would theoretically get Jaune on the FastTrack to being as capable a warrior as the rest of Beacon Academy's students.

It would be a long, tiring road, but Jaune was determined to close the wide gap that stood between him and his peers.

As the two continued the first of what would no doubt be many lessons to come, they were oblivious to a pair of glowing, blue eyes watching them from above.

Fenrir Lupus watched the two train together, his arms crossed and a proud grin on his face.

" _Well done Jaune."_ The Grimm praised, _"This is exactly the right way to become stronger. We'll make a warrior of you yet."_

" _Look at you,"_ The soft voice called out in his mind, cheeriness obvious in its tone, _"Watching over your new pack. So very proud of them, aren't you?"_

Fenrir instantly lost his smile and threw his arms down to his sides, his tail bristling up behind him.

" _They are not my pack."_ He thought tersely, _"They're just a bunch of Humans that I… Don't particularly hate."_

" _Mhmm."_ The voice replied, clearly not believing his words.

Huffing, Fenrir turned away from the sight of the two first-years sparring with each other and walked up to the nearest tower.

" _Whatever. Believe me, or don't believe me. I'm busy, so just go back to wherever you live in my brain and leave me alone."_

Once he'd confirmed that the voice would not continue to pester him for the evening, Fenrir began the now routine process of hauling his body up the stone structure.

He had his own training to be getting on with after all.

 **A/N: So I would have had this chapter up yesterday, but it was April Fools and I didn't want to give people the wrong idea. So yeah, Forever Fall is completed finally. I feel like I took quite a few liberties this chapter where the Grimm were concerned, but I felt it necessary to make the Grimm seem more multi-dimensional. That is one of my main goals with this fic, to make the creatures of Grimm seem like a more solid presence on Remnant, an actual race of people.**

 **Now, in regards to the future of this fic, your in luck. The next couple of chapters will be much shorter than this one, and so should come out much sooner. In regards to canon, I probably won't come back to it for some time, though I'll do an announcement when I'm about to write up "The stray".**

 **As always, leave a review to let me know your thoughts, and I will see you all next time. Take care!**


	29. Chapter 29: Power of the soul

**A/N: Back again. So not a long chapter this time, but an important one, one many of you have been waiting for, for quite some time. Enjoy!**

 _Tick… Tock… Tick… Tock…_

There was something relaxing about the sound of a ticking clock in an otherwise silent room. At least, that was Ozpin's opinion. If it wasn't, then his own office would be quite aggravating to the man. Fortunately, he took quiet comfort in the sounds of the deep chimes that echoed throughout his office that sat at the very top of the central tower of Beacon academy.

The night-time brought with it a blanket of silence, meaning the only sound that could be heard in the circular room was the slowly, rhythmically turning gears and cogs that powered the giant clock that's face adorned the outside of the tower, and caused the very room itself to steadily turn.

For Ozpin, it was symbolic, a way of showing that he was always keeping an eye on the entire academy. Though, if he wanted actual results, he'd settle for a more electronic solution. Which is what he was doing right now, as he sat in his chair, looking at the various holographic screens in front of him.

His students were of course, entitled to their privacy, Ozpin wasn't trying to deprive them of that. But, it didn't hurt to make sure that no one was in the halls who shouldn't be, no students skipping curfew. After all, he ran one of the most prestigious academies in the four Kingdoms, with that title came certain expectations.

Taking a sip from his favourite mug, Ozpin tapped a finger against the left-most screen, causing it to change its display.

The screen flashed, and the Headmaster was greeted with the sight of his assistant-head chewing out a group of second-years who had appeared to be trying to sneak outside after-hours. The man couldn't help but let out a tiny chuckle as he watched Glynda tear into the boys with her usual cold mercilessness.

" _I wonder if she's this harsh on the students because she doesn't want them repeating the same misdemeanours she made in her youth?"_ Ozpin wondered to himself.

Sighing at the remembrance of memories from years past, Ozpin shook his head and tapped the screen again.

This time it revealed Doctor Oobleck and Professor Peach strolling down a staircase and talking casually to each other. Well, as casually as the hyperactive, green-haired man could get.

A third tap showed Professor Port sitting in his classroom, a candle being the only source of light in the room as he marked his students homework, his empty hand stroking his moustache idly.

" _Everything appears to be as normal."_ Ozpin surmised with a nod of his head.

Figuring he'd earned the right to turn in for the night, Ozpin began to shut the screens down and downing the last of his now Luke-warm beverage. Just as the spectacled man reached to shut off the last monitor, his scroll that currently lay at the edge of his desk, started to trill loudly, disrupting the monotonous ticking sound that had engulfed the room.

Quirking an eyebrow at the sudden curiosity, Ozpin reached a hand over and opened his Scroll to see what the alert was for.

 _CAUTION: UNSTABLE AURA LEVELS DETECTED_

" _That's unusual."_ The headmaster, his brow furrowing, _"The only person here with an unstable Aura is… oh, oh dear."_

Suddenly feeling very tired, Ozpin quickly input a series of numbers into the single remaining monitor, and sat back as the feed quickly changed to that of the inside of the Grimmborns room.

Or at least, it would have done, had the feed not instead, presented him with an incredibly blurry image. Leaning forward in his seat, Ozpin quickly gathered that the lens of the camera had been completely covered with a sheen of frost. Though, if he squinted, he could just make out a dark sillohuete thrashing in the middle, before collapsing to the floor.

" _So, he's still in his room at least. But, what is he doing?"_

Deciding to get a bit technical, Ozpin brought up his scroll and with a few button presses, his scroll was now showing a complete map of the whole of Beacon. He'd adjusted the map to an Aura readout mode, it allowed him to see any high Aura outputs around the school. Similar to thermal imaging.

Immediately, his eyes were drawn to the lower levels on the map, as an angry, red dot could be seen in one of the left-most storage rooms. Though, not even a second later, the dot flickered out of existence.

Ozpin stared intently at his Scroll's screen, adjusting his glasses slightly, before the dot fizzled back into life again. For the next several minutes, Ozpin watched as a pattern revealed itself to him. The dot would flicker, sputter, then promptly disappear, only to reappear a few seconds later.

Switching his view to that of the surveillance camera inside Fenrir's room, Ozpin saw the blob that could only be the Grimm flail and thrash in time with the flickering of the dot, and then collapse to the floor just as the dot disappeared. The blob would stay prone on the floor for a short while, before it would slowly rise back to its feet and the process would start all over again.

" _He keeps trying to summon his Aura. But why?"_

The elder man pondered the new point of intrigue for the evening, before his mind recalled the incident in the cafeteria from two weeks ago. Fenrir had unintentionally used his Aura to send Dove Bronzewing up and out through the ceiling of the cafeteria. The very instant he'd done that, blue energy seemed to flare off his form and he started to convulse in visible pain.

" _His Aura is immensely powerful, but also highly unstable."_ Ozpin thought, leaning back in his chair, _"Every time he tries to use it, it turns on him and causes him what looks like an extreme amount of pain. Perhaps, because it is a borrowed Aura, or maybe it recognises the Grimm blood that still flows through his veins and perceives his own body as a threat."_

Ozpin continued to deliberate, the dot continuing to appear and disappear at random intervals.

" _Perhaps, he thinks that constantly trying to summon his Aura will make his body adapt to it. It doesn't appear to be working though."_

After thinking about it for a few moments longer, Ozpin gave an affirmative nod of his head and shut off both the screen and his scroll.

" _Well, why not. He hasn't harmed anyone since the incident with team CRDL, and his behaviour has seen a marked improvement recently. I suppose I could give him some advice. Plus it will give me an opportunity to see just how powerful Fenrir could become."_

With his plan for the evening set, Ozpin grabbed his cane and slowly got to his feet.

" _Unnff,"_ The grey-haired man grunted, _"Bones are starting to get a bit weary. Ah, youth, wasted on the young. And yet, wisdom is wasted on the old."_

Done with his griping, Ozpin made his way leisurely towards the elevator. It had been a while, but he was confident he could still teach a thing or two to a stubborn soul.

….

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH… GGRRRRRRRRRRRRGGHHH- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Fenrir gasped as he fell face-first onto the floor, his body trembling as spasms of pain lanced through his form. All around him, patches of frost covered the floor, walls, even the sheets on his bed. The temperature of the room was now similar to that of the inside of a walk-in freezer.

Gasping for breath, Fenrir's face became a twisted grimace of fury and agony as this marked the fourteenth attempt that night that had ended in complete failure.

The Alpha had grown tired of not having any idea how to use his Aura. For weeks now, he'd seen everyone else use it as easily as breathing, this power of the soul. He wanted to use it too, to make himself stronger than what he was now.

But every time he summoned his Aura that evening, it would hold for maybe a second or two, before the pain would return. A crushing on his ribs, his limbs shaking out of his control, and his head feeling like a lightning bolt was being shoved into his brain.

" _Why!"_ He seethed as the last few ebbs of pain passed through his system, _"Why is this so hard for me? Why won't you let me use your power?!"_

" _You haven't yet proven yourself worthy of it."_

The sweet voice at least had the decency to sound apologetic, but Fenrir still became more irate all the same. Taking a shuddering breath, Fenrir got back to his feet, shaking off the small ice crystals that had built up on his tail.

Before the Wolf could go for a fifteenth attempt, a rapt series of knocks from his door.

"Mr Lupus," A muffled voice called out from behind the door, "If you can, would you mind opening the door for me please."

" _Ozpin… what does he want?"_

The Beowolf needed only to look around his room to get an idea as to the headmasters sudden appearance outside his room. He'd guessed for a while now that his room was being closely watched by the higher-ups, he just had yet to find the cameras.

" _Well, he's not gonna leave until I answer him. Might as well see what he wants."_

Making his way to the door was a chore in and of itself. His vision blurred slightly as his brain demanded more oxygen than what his blood was providing, and his legs felt heavy and tired.

The moment Fenrir yanked open the door, Ozpin walked in with only a nod of his head in greeting. The older mans eyes roved across the room, paying special attention to the icy crystals that had formed across the room.

"Rather chilly in here Mr Lupus." Ozpin remarked, "Which is even more surprising when one considers that you live next to a boiler room."

The headmaster expected the usual, low growl of annoyance from the unamused Beowolf. What he heard instead was a pained moan and the sound of a large body slumping against a wall. Looking behind his shoulder, Ozpin saw a shattered-looking Fenrir gripping the wall like he expected the floor to disappear beneath him.

Constantly trying to force his Aura to work for him had taken a lot out of him.

Quickly shifting to a more professional mood, Ozpin darted forward and held Fenrir up by his armpit. The Alpha was too tired to even argue as Ozpin slowly guided him to an empty chair.

"Perhaps you should take a moment to catch your breath." Ozpin suggested, though the firm hand on Fenrir's shoulder told the beast that the man wasn't going to let him get up.

When the older man was sure Fenrir wouldn't stubbornly try to get back on his feet, he quickly walked off to find a second chair so he could sit in front of the Grimm.

On the way back, Ozpin caught a brief glimpse of a beaten-up Roomba sitting snugly underneath Fenrir's bed.

" _Hmm, didn't know we still HAD some of those."_

Placing a simple plastic chair directly across from Fenrir, Ozpin sat himself down in front of the exhausted Grimmborn.

"So, Mr Lupus," Ozpin started politely, "May I ask why your room is covered in frost and you look like you've just run three marathons… consecutively?"

Fenrir combed a hand through his matted, Black-and-blue hair. Once some clarity seemed to return to his previously cloudy eyes, Fenrir just scowled at the headmaster before looking at the far wall.

Ozpin expected such a response and patiently took his time to steeple his fingers in front of his face.

" _Oh, you're definitely frustrated,"_ The Huntsman hummed, _"But not with me."_

Seeing that the Grimm wasn't going to answer, Ozpin shrugged his shoulders minutely and pressed on.

"It looks like you were trying to use your Aura." Ozpin watched critically as Fenrir instantly bristled at the word 'Aura'.

"Though, judging by those screams I heard on the way down, would I be correct in assuming that progress has been… slow."

Fenrir glared at the grey-haired man in a way that suggested he was about to argue with him, but then he slumped back in his chair and let out a tired groan.

" _What's the point."_ The wolf despaired, _"I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I'm pathetic."_

"I've watched the others for weeks," Fenrir started slowly, "They make it look so easy, using their Aura's, turning their very bodies into a force of pure power. But… every time I try, I just… can't! It hurts every… SINGLE… TIME!"

Fenrir was very quickly working himself up into a state of frustration. Ozpin once again acted quickly, placing a firm hand on the Alpha and gently forcing him back onto his chair.

"Take a breath Fenrir," Ozpin instructed calmly, "It might be hard for you to hear, but your anger will not provide you much help here."

Fenrir's eyes smouldered like a log fire, but he forced himself to be still. Taking a moment to collect himself, Ozpin regarded the Grimm for a moment before beginning what was sure to be an unusual lesson.

"Tell me something Mr Lupus, when you're trying to summon your Aura, what exactly do you do?"

Fenrir blew a few strands of hair off of his face, before answering Ozpin's question.

"I just… I don't really know." The Grimm said unsurely, "I just feel… this… POWER coursing up inside me. But, the moment it comes out of my body, it just keeps attacking me."

The older man nodded his head as Fenrir tried his best to explain the problem. When it seemed like the angry teen had nothing more to add, Ozpin tried to approach the problem from a different angle.

He had a feeling that Fenrir's inability to safely use his Aura might have something to do with his character, so to speak.

"Would you say that; it feels like you have to _force_ your Aura to work for you?"

The Beowolf's eyes widened a little, and Ozpin knew he'd hit the nail on the head.

"Well, yes actually." Fenrir said.

The Grimm leaned forward with rapt attention as Ozpin nodded his head sagely.

"Ah, I think I see the problem here." Ozpin said, "The issue is, you don't know that Aura doesn't work that way."

Fenrir blinked in confusion. When he found himself unable to decipher Ozpin's meaning, he decided to ask for clarification.

"How does it work then?" He asked with an air of uncertainty.

Ozpin twirled his cane in his hand as he thought over what he was about to do. At the end of the day, Fenrir was a Grimm, had been all his life. If Ozpin helped him get a grip on his Aura, there was very little telling just how much more lethal the young wolf could become.

And yet, Ozpin only had to look into the Grimm's dark blue eyes, eyes that were now alight with eagerness, a desire to learn, and he knew that he couldn't decline the Grimm.

He may be a Beowolf, but now, now he was also a student. And Ozpin was a teacher, it was his job to teach.

"Your Aura is not just a weapon that you use in battle," Ozpin explained, "It's an energy field, a projection of your very life-force. And it exists in everything, everything except the Grimm that is. It exists in you, me, the trees outside that window, Miss Rose's pet dog. It's a force of pure will, comprised of both light and darkness. You might even say, it connects our mortal, matter-made bodies, to the spiritual world, a world that's impossible to define, impossible to perceive. Because of this, it's a power that requires a certain degree of respect from its users."

Fenrir's face was one of deep thought. He'd never considered that Aura had such deep roots with the very world. In the past, he'd always seen it as just this power that Dustling's used to fight his people. A cheap tactic used to make their weak, little bodies stronger.

But the way Ozpin spoke of it, it sounded like it was an entity, a presence that was far more than just that simple description could clearly portray.

Suddenly, Ozpin got back to his feet, and with a gesture of his hand, instructed Fenrir to do the same.

"Mr Lupus, you've been trying to force this great power to do your bidding," The headmaster spoke plainly, "But that simply will not work. In order to truly master your Aura, you have to be a bit more willing to compromise with it."

Ozpin then brought both his hands up, fists clenched, in a way that made him look like he was curling invisible weights. Fenrir stared at him for a moment, before he realised that the grey-haired Huntsman was expecting him to do the same, and placed his arms in the exact same position.

"You're asking me to just… surrender control to this Aura?" Fenrir asked with a frown, "That's not an easy thing for me to do Professor. It's not an easy thing for ANY Grimm to do."

The creatures of Grimm were all about having control. More than killing Humans, they were determined to always be in control of their own lives.

Because they had been slaves before… they would _never_ let it happen again.

"It's not about surrendering control." Ozpin again cut off Fenrir with a calming air, "Your Aura doesn't control you, nor do you control it. Your Aura hurts you because all it sees when it looks at you is a Grimm. A rage-filled, heartless monster. You can't control it because you have no respect for it. That's what you need to truly grasp your new power. Not control… compromise."

" _Compromise?"_ Fenrir turned that word over and over in his head. This whole, sudden lesson was filling Fenrir with a great deal of uncertainty. He was being lead to a new point of view by Ozpin, a point of view that suddenly made his Aura seem like this massive, unknowable power that he couldn't hope to get to work with him.

" _No! Enough of that talk!"_ He reprimanded himself, _"You are a Grimm. So relish the challenge."_

"Okay!" Fenrir said after a second of silence, nodding his head affirmatively, "So what do I do?"

Ozpin smiled slightly, relieved that the Beowolf was still willing to go along with what he was planning.

"You need to find a balance with your Aura." Ozpin instructed, "Find something you can both agree on. And this time, when the power comes to you, don't fight it. Instead, embrace it, let it flow through your entire being. If you do that… it might just work out in your favour."

It was a long shot, even Ozpin's tone portrayed as such. But Fenrir couldn't think of anything else that might produce better results. So with a quick shake of his shoulders, Fenrir shut his eyes and directed his focus inward.

" _Okay, just find something we can agree on."_ Fenrir went through the process in his head, _"Lets see… the first time I was able to use my Aura without it hurting me was… The rooftop with Ren!"_

The Alpha's thoughts were immediately taken back to that day. The day when the silent ninja had told him about meditation. That day, Fenrir had opened his eyes to see his entire body covered in a blue haze, and frost beneath his feet.

" _I wasn't using it consciously then,"_ Fenrir wondered, _"But perhaps… I can use that memory to get the ball rolling."_

So, with a deep breath in, Fenrir pictured the same image that he'd envisioned up on that rooftop.

In no time at all, the Grimm saw it again. The lush, lively wilds of Remnant. He saw the trees, stretching for miles in all directions. He saw the rivers, crystal blue and flowing gracefully. He could see the mountains, standing tall and proud in the distance.

Remnant… In all its glory.

Ozpin watched as Fenrir's body slowly relaxed, and his breaths became long and deep. After several minutes of waiting, something finally happened.

The Beowolf's whole body started to pulsate with blue, burning energy. Beneath his boots, the ground steadily became covered in a thin sheet of ice. His breaths now became visible, white clouds on every exhale, and the temperature of the room steadily went down as his Aura came pouring out of his body.

"Alright Mr Lupus," Ozpin called out, "Try opening your eyes."

Fenrir just about caught Ozpin's words, and when he did, he felt a brief spike of fear run through him.

Still, he pushed on, and opened his eyes. In an instant, Fenrir's navy orbs widned fully at the sight of his own body, cloaked in an icy maelstrom.

Though just like before, barely a second passed, before the Aura spiked aggressively, and the Grimm felt it again.

Pain, an all-encompassing pain that wracked his body all the way down to his bones. Fenrir lurched forward, knuckles turning white and his teeth grit as he tried with all his might to fight off the pain.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRGHH… HNNNNGGHH… OZPIN!" He screamed, his body starting to twist and shake as his Aura grew more and more erratic, "I… I CAN'T GAH! I CAN'T CONTROL IT!"

"Stay calm Fenrir!" Ozpin spoke out, his voice just barely breaking through the noise created by the Grimm's thrashing Aura, "Don't fear it, don't fight it. It's okay, let it flow through you. Feel it Fenrir, feel its power, the ice surging in your blood. Feel all of it… and don't back away from it."

The Headmaster kept both his hands firmly planted on Fenrir's shoulders, holding him steady as Fenrir fought against his very impulses.

Every instinct in his body screamed at him to recoil away from this foreign power in his body. With monumental effort, Fenrir made the muscles in his arms go lax, his legs straighten out, and his jaw unclench.

" _Okay, alright,"_ Fenrir focused intently on whatever presence was lurking inside his body, _"I shouldn't have tried to control you. I… I get it now, you're too strong to be commanded by anyone, and I didn't respect that. I'm sorry, I didn't see that sooner. So go ahead, look at me, all I ask in return, is you let me use this power. I'm… I'm not afraid of you. I'm willing to work with you, just give me a chance."_

Seconds passed at an agonisingly slow rate, so slow in fact, that Fenrir was starting to question if Ozpin wasn't just yanking his tail.

But then, miraculously, the pain started to ebb away.

And Fenrir could _feel it!_ He could feel his soul.

Cold, flowing through his body like icy water. His Aura traced across his body with an almost experimental touch, methodical and delicate in nature, nothing like what it had been before. The Grimm could see the colour blue behind his eyelids, as he found himself oddly comforted by the cold that seeped down to his very core.

It felt like his very being was being enveloped in a crisp, cold, winter morning.

Ozpin, meanwhile, watched in quiet fascination as the blue glow dimmed in intensity and seemed to melt into Fenrir's skin. The Alpha's veins now shone bright blue and pulsated in time with his heartbeat. Soon, Fenrir was standing up properly, all traces of pain gone from his face, and he very cautiously opened his eyes.

The Beowolf gasped as his now electric-blue eyes looked across his room. It was as if the whole world had sharpened in focus, colours popped out at him and the dark, night-time sky, now didn't look so black.

"I… I… woah."

Fenrir couldn't find any words that could describe how he felt right now. Only that what he had felt previously was multiplied now.

Looking down at his hands, Fenrir finally managed to get a good look at his Aura, without having to worry about it assaulting him.

His hands were practically luminous as the dark blue mist rose off of his form. Flexing his fingers, Fenrir swore he caught the faint sounds of ice crunching. He also caught small, blue bolts of Aura energy passing in-between his fingertips.

The power flooding through his blood, through his bones. It was all so overwhelming, that Fenrir couldn't stop a mirthful chuckle escaping his lips.

" _Well, hello there."_ Fenrir greeted to no one in particular, _"Nice to finally meet you."_

"Are you okay Mr Lupus?"

The Older mans voice shook Fenrir out of his euphoria, causing the Wolf to look at the professor. Taking another cursory glance at his body, Fenrir answered the man, excitement causing his gravelly voice to waver slightly.

"Yeah, I'm… I feel great! This Aura, it's incredible!"

Ozpin smiled warmly at Fenrir's elation. There was still a worry in the back of his head that the Grimm now had access to a great power source. But, that worry was negligible when it came to the fact that he was seeing the elated face of a student that had taken a massive step towards becoming a future protector of the world.

" _Yes, I can clearly see it."_ Ozpin thought to himself as he used his Aura sense to get a more detailed picture, _"His Aura has become much more stable than it used to be. It's not perfect yet, but it's a start."_

"Can you hold that form Mr Lupus?" The Headmaster asked the teen.

"I, I think so." Fenrir said after a moment.

Nodding his head, Ozpin brought up his scroll and brought up a stopwatch app.

"In that case," Ozpin said with a jovial tone, "How would you like to test this awakened power of yours?"

The Grimm gave Ozpin a curious look as the grey-haired man set his scroll off to the side, and then brought his cane up in front of his face, like it was a sword instead of a walking apparatus.

"Test it how?" Fenrir asked.

"I will give you two minutes," The elder Huntsman said plainly, "Two minutes to land a single hit on me. If you can manage that, I'll let you go down into Vale by yourself from now on. If not, well, then I guess we'll have to keep going until you can."

Fenrir's eyes widened at the challenge that was being thrown at his feet, the incentive didn't mean much to the Grimm, he felt very little desire to go back into that Human-filled city. But still, he was being given permission to fight Ozpin. He knew the man was leagues stronger than him, but with this new Aura power filling his muscles, he felt like he could at least land one punch.

" _Think of it as: Revenge,"_ The soft voice said cheekily, _"For all the times he's sneaked up on you and made you jump out of your skin."_

Just at the word 'Revenge', Fenrir felt his lips widen to reveal his sharpened teeth in a massive grin.

" _Now that's an idea I can get behind."_

"Two minutes?" Fenrir asked, Ozpin simply nodding in response, "Alright then. Just remember, you asked for this."

The Beowolf lowered himself to the ground, whilst Ozpin just quirked an eyebrow in amusement. True, he was getting up there in years.

But it seemed the Grimm's sudden surge of power had made his ambitions a little too big.

"I'll keep it in mind." He remarked before leaning back on his heel, ready for Fenrir to inevitably charge at him the second he said go.

The mans finger hovered over the button to start the timer, Fenrir's eyes focused intensely on Ozpin's face, his Aura flaring up like a blue firestorm.

 _Tap._

"Go!"

The second the word left Ozpin's lips, Fenrir charged forward, his Aura instantly shooting down to his legs.

Only, rather than connecting a fist with Ozpin's face, Fenrir's arm struck thin air, that he could have sworn held Ozpin's image not a second ago.

And then Fenrir lost all control of his legs and found himself rapidly careening towards the far wall of his room.

"WO-WO-WO-WOAH! OOOOFFF!"

Fenrir's face was imbedded in the concrete as he failed to stop himself in time. His ears perked up as he heard Ozpin chuckle at the Wolf's misfortune. Peeling his face off the stone, Fenrir shook his hair free of debris and looked at the floor beneath him.

Frosty footprints lead up to where he was standing, glittering blue and white in the evening light.

" _That was fast! Faster than how I normally move."_ Fenrir thought, _"I couldn't even keep track of my own movements. How do Humans handle this much energy blasting through them?"_

"Done already Mr Lupus?" Ozpin questioned from the other side of the room.

Scowling, the Grimm hunkered down to prepare for another charge.

And then, his face twitched, and then he let out a grunt as he felt the pain, slowly returning.

" _What? No!"_ Fenrir seethed in frustration, _"Come on, I thought we were over this!"_

Just before the pain could reach its previous levels of excruciating however, it suddenly ceased. And with it, Fenrir's previously shining Aura, fizzled away to nothingness.

Ozpin observed quietly as Fenrir looked down at his normal-looking body.

"Wh… Wha-huh?" Fenrir stammered, "What happened? Is it broken?"

"I do not think so," The headmaster murmured, before shaking his head and re-capturing Fenrir's attention, "It's alright Fenrir, just bring it back. Hurry now, you're on a timer remember."

Fenrir's face betrayed his panic, before he quickly shut his eyes and refocused on that pleasant image he now kept saved in his brain. In no time at all, certainly much faster than before, the blue haze returned as Fenrir's Aura reactivated with a blast of frigid air.

He hadn't even needed to negotiate with the soul power, it just came back to him.

" _Weird, maybe it was just a slip-up. The knock to the wall must have messed up my concentration."_ The Beowolf guessed.

Putting it aside for later, Fenrir again sent his body rocketing forward, towards where Ozpin was standing. This time, he paid attention to the fact that he was much, much faster now, and put the brakes on his sprint much earlier.

Just in time, Fenrir found himself right in front of Ozpin and quickly shot a fist at his face.

But again, Fenrir just hit empty air, empty air that still held the grey-haired man's visage.

" _It… It's an afterimage? He's so fast he can make an afterimage. That's crazy fast!"_

"ACK!"

Fenrir found himselfshunted forward as Ozpin took the moment to counterattack, hitting Fenrir in the back with his cane.

"You leave yourself wide-open after an attack." Ozpin lectured, "You should always keep your guard up. If your opponent sees an opening, he will take it."

Fenrir growled in irritation, but he turned quickly on his heel to face Ozpin again.

And then the pain again, followed by Fenrir's Aura just disappearing into thin, misty air.

" _Oh, what the hell!"_

"Hmm, that time it was seven seconds." Ozpin held a finger up to his chin in intrigue, "Again."

Just like before, Fenrir shut his eyes, refocused, and the Aura returned.

Countless times, Fenrir tried to land a single hit on the veteran Huntsman. But while his Aura had greatly elevated his speed, Ozpin was just on a whole other level. The mans smiling afterimages would forever be seared into the Grimm's brain as they seemed to taunt him with just how feeble his power was by comparison.

Occasionally, Ozpin would attack with his cane, prods and swipes that either forced Fenrir to quickly back off, or he didn't react in time and he ended up just taking the hit. But for the most part, Ozpin simply relegated himself to just dodging Fenrir's assault, keeping an eye to the floor as it gradually became covered in more and more frost.

" _He's faster than before,"_ Ozpin graded in his mind, _"But he's like a new-born with a toy. He doesn't fully know how to use it, so he's just flinging it around like a cudgel."_

All throughout the brief spar, Fenrir would have to stop as his Aura disappeared and he had to bring it back up again. And all the while, Ozpin kept count of just how long Fenrir could hold his powered up form.

" _Eight seconds… then nine seconds… then six seconds… then seven seconds again…"_

It appeared that with one problem solved regarding the Beasts Aura, another had arisen to take its place.

Glancing into his peripheral vision, Ozpin saw that it was about time to finish this miniature fight.

Fenrir let out a roar of rage as he exploded with magnificent, cobalt energy. Launching forward, Fenrir let out a furious flurry of punches in rapid succession, intent on just getting one, measly, stinking hit.

It was all for naught however, as Fenrir's Aura blinked out of existence right in the middle of the attack, leaving him wide-open to Ozpin's return attack.

Sweeping low, Ozpin brought his cane up in an uppercut that caught the Beowolf right on the chin and launching him into the air.

" _Time to show you an old favourite of mine Fenrir."_

Fenrir's eyes widned as Ozpin was covered in a glowing, green swell of pure Soul energy. And then, Fenrir didn't see, but rather felt a thousand attacks to his chest in the span of just one second.

Ozpin had hit Fenrir with a series of jabs from his cane at speeds too fast to even see with the naked eye.

Reeling his arm back, Ozpin finished the Grimm off with one last lunge that sent Fenrir flying and colliding hard with a shelving unit.

The unit just about stopped itself from toppling over as the Alpha crumpled down to the floor.

The blue glow evaporated again, and this time Fenrir struggled to bring it back as he lay on all fours on the floor, his arms trembling and sweat pouring off his forehead. Constantly having to bring his Aura back was inevitably taking its toll on the young Wolf.

But still, he refused to give up. Shaking, Fenrir got back to his feet, fangs grit as he stared Ozpin down defiantly.

" _Not yet… have to get… one… hit… in!"_

BZZZTT!

"Times up." Ozpin said as he instantly brought his cane back down to his side, all fight gone from his body.

Fenrir blinked.

And then his hands fell, limp and useless as he slid back against the metal shelves behind him, coming to a stop on the floor.

"Dammit." He muttered bitterly, shutting his eyes in shame.

"Don't despair Mr Lupus." Ozpin attempted to comfort the Grimm with a hearty chuckle, "Frankly, I would have been ASTOUNDED if you had managed to hit me on the first attempt. But now at least, you have a far better grasp of your Aura. In time, you may even unlock your Semblance."

Fenrir wished he could take comfort in the mans words, but it was made difficult when he was the one sitting on the floor, battered and bruised, whilst Ozpin didn't even have a hair out of place.

"Why did it keep cutting out though?" Fenrir asked aloud, "Why did my Aura keep disappearing like that?"

Ozpin strode forward and offered a hand to the Grimm, who took it begrudgingly and made his way over to his iced mattress.

"I think," Ozpin said slowly, "Your Aura still needs time to adjust to you Mr Lupus. You are after all, very unusual."

Fenrir couldn't help but snort at that understatement.

"You can use your Aura now, but it's on a time-limit." The older man explained, "Around six to ten seconds, before it has to retreat back into your body, or risk hurting you like it did before. I imagine, and hope, that with time and training, this time-limit will grow in size."

Fenrir nodded along as the logic seemed to make sense to him. The few books he'd read that went into detail about Aura, seemed to suggest that Aura was a lot like a muscle in the body. The more you used it, the stronger it became.

"Well, you weren't able to land a hit on me tonight Mr Lupus," Ozpin spoke with an air of finality as he slowly turned towards the doorway, "So I guess we will just have to keep doing this until you can hit me."

Fenrir shot off his bed, disbelief written all over his face.

"Wait, again?" He asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Ozpin responded like his answer was obvious, "I can't promise I can make it every week; I am a Headmaster of a Huntsman academy after all. But, whenever I have some free time, I'll help you get better control over your Aura. And like I said, if you can hit me, you'll be allowed to go down to Vale by yourself. Though next time, you might want to bring your weapons. They would give you an increase to your range that would prove quite useful."

Fenrir knew he shouldn't be ungrateful. Ozpin was undoubtedly, a powerful individual. His help would no doubt be invaluable to the Beowolf. But something about this whole thing made him, not suspicious, but curiosity bordering on caution.

"Why?" Fenrir's question cut through the silence that had formed between the two, "Why are you going so far to help me?"

Ozpin turned to fully face the boy, and Fenrir wasn't sure if it was the low lighting playing tricks on him, but right now.

Ozpin looked incredibly _old_ to him.

"I've lived a long time Mr Lupus, seen many things that most people would hardly believe even if they saw it with their own eyes. And yet, in all that time, I have never seen anything quite like you. You, a Grimm gifted with a Human body and a Human soul. I don't fully know what the future holds for you, but I know that whatever it is, it will no doubt bring a great change to Remnant."

Fenrir could barely process the older mans words. That was two people now, two beings who desired for Fenrir to be something far greater than what he was born to be. First the voice in his head, and now Ozpin.

And both times, it left him with this uneasy feeling.

"If that will be all Mr Lupus, I believe I've taken up enough of your evening. Good night Mr lupus."

And without another word, Ozpin exited Fenrir's room as quickly as he had entered. Fenrir stood there, staring at his now closed door as a myriad of thoughts tried to grab his attention. Eventually, Fenrir shook himself out of his stupor, and made his way back to his mattress.

Shaking the frost off his duvet, Fenrir sat down and contemplated the events that had just transpired in this one room. In one night, he'd gone from having no clue how to use his Aura, to now being able to use it painlessly for a limited period of time.

Looking down at his pale hand, Fenrir shut his eyes one last time, and brought up that familiar image of his ideal Remnant, the image he fought every day to protect. Opening his eyes, Fenrir chuckled as his hand now glowed blue and chilly mist rose up from his palm. That cooling, comforting chill spread through his body and filled the Alpha's lungs with crisp, cold air.

He'd never felt comfort from the cold before, not even when he'd had fur, but he did now. And try as hard as he might, he couldn't imagine a better feeling as his Aura enveloped his body.

" _So… Am I worthy of it now?"_ Fenrir asked in his mind.

" _Not yet,"_ The soft voice responded, _"But it will at least be willing to help you out now if you're ever in a crisis. It still needs time to fully embrace you."_

The Beowolf figured that would be the case, and he contently let the blue Aura disappear from his hand before laying down on his bed.

" _Alright then,"_ Fenrir thought resolutely, _"Then I'll just keep working, keep pushing myself until I am worthy of it. I… I want to be worthy of its power. I trust you'll let me know when I've achieved this?"_

A chuckle that would have made most men swoon, fall to their knees, echoed throughout Fenrir's mind as the voices final words lulled Fenrir into a very peaceful sleep.

" _Of course, my little wolf."_

… _._

"BLEH! No! warm soda's the worst!"

Fenrir looked up from a textbook he was reading, startled by the high-pitched voice that had broken the silence of the student break-room. In the kitchen portion of the room, Ruby Rose stood holding a glass of fizzy black liquid that Fenrir had been informed was called 'soda'. He'd tried it once, and if he had to describe it in two words it would be: crunchy water.

He didn't like it.

" _There is nothing natural about water that fizzes."_ Fenrir grumbled as he shut his book, figuring he might as well see what the commotion was about.

"Well what did you expect Dolt!" Weiss reprimanded her leader harshly, "You left it right next to the window, in the blazing sun, for an hour."

"Yeah, not gonna lie, this ones on you Ruby." Yang agreed with Weiss, shaking her head solemnly at the loss of such a refreshing beverage.

"I didn't leave it out that long!" Ruby defended weakly, before sighing and looking at her glass with an air of mourning.

Fenrir, meanwhile, just frowned at the sight.

" _So it tastes worse when its warm?"_ He questioned, _"Well I definitely don't want to try anymore of it now."_

"Well, I guess I'll just make myself another one." Ruby said like it was not some menial task, but rather a great and tortuous trial.

Fenrir just shook his head at Ruby's antics, wondering just how someone could get so torn up over the loss of a cold drink.

And then, at the word 'cold', Fenrir's eyes widened as an idea called out in his head.

Before Ruby could turn and tip the glass of soda down the sink, Fenrir shot forward.

"Ruby, wait!"

"Huh?"

The silver-eyed girl shot a perplexed look at the Grimm as he now stood in front of her.

"Let me try something first." He asked as he held a hand up.

Curious, Ruby stood in place as Fenrir shut his eyes and took a deep breath of air.

And then her curiosity became amazement as Fenrir's whole body glowed bright blue, and the air of the whole room became several degrees colder. Even the others stopped what they were doing to watch the light show their Grimm friend was putting on.

Slowly, Fenrir brought his hands towards the glass, as if wanting to take it. Blinking, Ruby shook herself out of her daze and gave the glass to the Grimm. The second it touched his fingers, the glass misted over as it was rapidly cooled, the bubbles in the soda reigniting as the drink was instantly chilled to perfection.

Having done what he wanted to do, Fenrir cancelled his Aura and handed the drink back to Ruby with a satisfied smirk.

"What?" Ruby questioned loudly, "How did you do that?"

Looking across to the others, Fenrir gestured with the hand he'd just used to chill Ruby's soda.

"I figured out how to use my Aura," He explained proudly, "And where Ruby's after-effect is Rose petals, mine is cold."

Fenrir's proud grin melted away as he saw the looks he was being given by the others. Weiss's eyes held a furious thirst for knowledge, Blake's were similar though to a far less severe degree, and Yang's Lilac orbs were alight with mischief.

Before the Alpha could try to make a break for it, the four girls were on him in an instant. For a solid hour, the girls of team RWBY volleyed question after question at the poor wolf. At some points, Yang even tried to put various items [Including Weiss's scroll] in Fenrir's hands and try to make him freeze them.

And all the while, Fenrir could do nothing more than stare at the far wall with a withering glare as he asked himself the same question on repeat.

" _Why do I do things?"_

… _._

 **A/N: Well, told you guys this one would be shorter. Still, I hope you enjoyed it all the same.**

 **So Fenrir FINALLY has started to use his Aura properly, though he still hasn't unlocked his Semblance yet, and he still has a long way to go before he has fully mastered his power of the soul.**

 **I enjoyed this chapter, and I think I did an admirable job of portraying what Aura is in this universe, though if you disagree please feel free to say so in your reviews.**

 **Let me know what your thoughts are on this chapter and I will see you later.**


	30. Chapter 30: A meeting between Alpha's

**A/N: Oh hello, I didn't see you there. Here's another chapter for you. Hope you like it.**

" _One hundred and ninety-three… One hundred and ninety-four…"_

Fenrir quickly blinked a bead of sweat out of his eye and watched it fall down on the mat beneath him. That was something he'd noticed about his new body; it would sweat much more than his Grimm body. Though, it was entirely possible that he never noticed this bodily function when he was a Grimm, that his fur simply absorbed the moisture and so it never bothered him.

The Alpha was in one of his usual haunts, the school gym, finishing up his training regiment for the day. The workout plan given to him by Pyrrha was doing wonders for him, now that he'd gotten past the initial first-week of pain. His body was adapting to the strain, his muscles toughening and bulking up slightly.

It was still no where near to his titanic physique when he'd been a proper, Alpha Beowolf, but it was a definite improvement.

"One hundred and ninety-nine…" Fenrir gasped aloud, his arms shuddering from the strain, "Two… TWO HUNDRED!"

With the final push-up completed, the Alpha rolled to the side so that he was staring up at the ceiling, his lungs drinking in stale air like it was precious water. Speaking of which, blindly flinging his arm to his side, Fenrir grabbed a simple, plastic water bottle and drank deeply from it.

" _Man, this body's needs are much more demanding than my old ones."_ The Grimm remarked as he brought himself up to a sitting position.

It was nearing the end of the day; Fenrir having come straight to the gym the moment classes finished. Later on, he'd do his usual routine of burning off any lingering energy by traversing Beacons rooftops, then head back to his room and go straight to sleep.

Crossing his legs underneath him, Fenrir stared down at his arms. The skin was flushed red and glistening with tiny beads of moisture. His body was naturally venting off the excess heat his work-out had generated, but the Alpha figured there was no harm in speeding the process along.

Ever since Ozpin had helped him gain a better understanding of his Aura a few days ago, Fenrir had been tapping into the power any chance he could get. He hadn't had a chance to use it in actual combat yet, but he figured he could still use the time to let his body and soul get better acclimatised to each other.

So, shutting his eyes, Fenrir slowed down his breathing pattern and focused his mind on a familiar image. Within seconds, the blue glow enveloped his form and frost began to take shape on the mat beneath him.

In an instant, the sticky, sweltering heat of his body died down, and in its place was a deep chill that comforted Fenrir down to his bones. Opening his eyes, Fenrir watched as the icy energy travelled leisurely through his veins. Soon, Fenrir's body felt re-energised, as if the training regiment he'd just gone through hadn't even happened.

" _What I wouldn't have given to have had this ability a few years earlier."_ Fenrir remarked as he flexed his fingers, the sound of crunching ice coming from the movement.

A sharp gasp broke Fenrir's concentration, the blue Aura instantly disappearing around his body as he whipped his head to the door. A group of first-year students were standing in the doorway, faces pale and eyes as wide as saucers.

They'd seen it. They'd seen the Grimm, the Alpha Beowolf that slumbered in the bowels of the academy glowing with pure soul energy. Even if they hadn't, the thin sheet of glittering ice underneath his feet was telling enough that something weird had just happened.

Fenrir's nose curled up as he could almost smell the rank terror coming off of the students that continued to gawk at him in the doorway.

"He.. h-h-he was just…" A boy at the front of the group stammered fearfully.

"Was that… Aura?" A girl almost hiding behind the boy asked.

"That can't be right. Cardin said he couldn't…" A third voice called out from behind both of them.

At the mere mention of the leader of team CRDL, Fenrir felt his temper flare up like a flame on a candle, and decided he wasn't going to waste breath on these paranoid fools.

Standing up, Fenrir regarded the small group that remained rooted to the spot with a dark glare, before turning and walking towards the other side of the gym.

The Alpha made it a few steps before one of the students inexplicably re-grew a spine and walked towards the Grimm's retreating form.

"Hey, wait a minute!" The boy yelled, a twinge of fear seeping into his voice, "What the hell were you doing Grimm?"

The Beowolf carried on as if he hadn't even heard the boy. This was evidently the wrong choice, as now the boy stomped toward Fenrir angrily, cutting off the Wolf's retreat.

"Hey, I asked you a question monster!" The boy sneered.

Fenrir's response was to simply scowl at the boy. The fact that whoever this was wasn't even calling him by his name, for some reason that was the thing that was annoying him the most.

"What I'm doing is my business." Fenrir responded sharply, "Now get out of my face… now."

The two stared each other down for a moment, before the boy finally backed off and turned to leave with the others. As much as he wanted to fight the Demon, the fact that he'd had to crane his neck to look up at the Beowolf, and that they'd all seen the sheer power pouring out of the Grimm's body earlier, told them all this was a fight that would end poorly for them.

Fenrir watched as the group retreated, before rolling his eyes and carrying on his way.

" _You know, responding to peoples distrust of you with just more anger isn't going to make them like you."_ The soft voice chastised Fenrir gently.

" _You'll have to forgive me if I'm not chomping at the bit to make friends with every Human I meet."_ Was the Grimm's response.

Before Fenrir could get into an argument with the voice inside his head, a commotion from behind him caught his attention.

"Oh, 'scuse me, sorry, coming through."

Looking over his shoulder, half expecting that boy to come running at him again, Fenrir was instead surprised to see Jaune stumbling his way into the room.

" _Don't often see him in here."_ The wolf teen remarked, recalling the last time Jaune had been in this room, Yang had given him the misfortune of being her sparring partner.

If he closed his eyes, he could still see the lanky blond, flying through the air with all the grace of a dead salmon.

Curious, Fenrir took a seat at a nearby bench and watched the young Arc to see what he was doing here. Unsurprisingly, Jaune was here to workout, making his way quickly to a treadmill that was relatively close to where Fenrir was sitting.

Since he'd begun taking lessons from Pyrrha, Jaune had become more driven than ever to become a stronger fighter. Voicing his new-found enthusiasm to his partner, Pyrrha had suggested he started clocking in more hours conditioning and strengthening his body.

So, here he was.

For a little while, Fenrir simply observed the boy as he moved across the room. He quickly noted that, while not weak, Jaune wasn't as physically capable as he was, having to stop far quicker than when the Beowolf did.

But still, the blond boy kept at it, persevering with a determination that was admirable to the Alpha. After several minutes passed, Fenrir was reminded of a conversation he'd been wishing to have with the leader of team JNPR. Now seemed as good a time as any to have that talk, so Fenrir picked himself up and walked casually towards the boy.

Jaune was currently struggling to lift a barbell that had been fitted with a few too many weights. Judging from how red in the face he was, Fenrir estimated he had a few seconds before Jaune's arms gave out and he choked to death on the metal bar. Wanting to save the scraggly teen from any further embarrassment, Fenrir quickly shot forward and grabbed the bar with one hand. Jaune's eyes bulged slightly at the sudden sight of the Grimmborn looming above him, before he shook off his surprise and smiled weakly up at the Wolf Faunus.

"Oh, hey Fenrir." He said, exhaustion clearly present in his voice.

"Afternoon." Fenrir grumbled.

Quickly, Fenrir grunted and lifted the barbell back onto it's holding, eliminating the risk of it falling on Jaune's head. The young knight breathed out in relief before sitting himself up.

"Thanks," He said quietly, "You just get here?"

"Just finished," Fenrir corrected, "Was about to leave before I saw you come in."

Jaune let a quiet 'Oh', before looking away from the larger boy. He was more than a little surprised that he hadn't even seen the Grimm when he'd walked in.

Whilst Jaune worked on catching his breath, Fenrir surveyed the room, his eyes eventually coming to rest on the now empty sparring ring.

"Cardin been giving you any trouble?" He asked offhandedly, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Uh, no." Jaune shook his head, "I haven't heard from him in a few days, ever since that… incident with the Ursa, he hasn't said a word to me. I think I'm in the clear where he's concerned."

"Good." Fenrir nodded slowly, eyes unmoving from the ring, "I don't think you'll have to worry about him for a good long while."

"That's what I'm hoping." Jaune agreed.

After a while, Jaune started to grow uncomfortable as the Grimm just continued to stare at one spot of the room, his face crunched up in contemplation. Eventually the awkwardness grew too much for the young Arc, and he tried to catch the Beowolf's attention.

"So, uh." He started slowly, "Is there something you wanted to, uh, talk to me about?"

Fenrir blinked suddenly, as if being suddenly snapped back into reality. Turning to face the lanky Blond, Fenrir's cold blue eyes seemed to solidify with conviction as he now knew what he wanted to do.

"Yes, actually." Fenrir said, before gesturing with his head towards the ring, "Follow me."

Confused but intrigued, Jaune quickly stood up and walked alongside the Alpha. His curiosity quickly turned to trepidation however, when he saw just where the Grimm was leading him, and he suddenly took note of just how broad and solid Fenrir's frame was.

Before he could voice his concerns, Fenrir's deep voice cut through the silence that had surrounded the two.

"Back in the forest," Fenrir said, his voice reverberating in the back of his throat, "You defeated an Ursa Major, handled it far better than I did. Then after that, you went on to deal with Cardin, made it clear that you would not suffer his idiocy any longer. It was truly impressive to watch."

Jaune felt his cheeks warm slightly at the sudden praise he was receiving from a Grimm of all creatures. Before he could try and stammer out that it was no big deal, Fenrir cut him off with a serious expression.

"After that, I saw something in your eyes. Something I haven't seen since I came to this academy. Jaune… You have the spark of an Alpha in you."

Jaune's eyes widned in disbelief. The severe look in Fenrir's eyes immediately dispelled the notion that this was a joke, but still, Jaune seriously doubted there were any similarities between him and… an Alpha. Before he could object to such a large claim, Fenrir hoisted up the ropes that bordered the sparring ring.

"I want to see that potential grow Jaune." Fenrir stated simply, "So, that's what we're going to do, right now. Show me what you can do, without that sword of yours."

Numbly, Jaune walked into the centre of the ring, followed closely by Fenrir who cracked his knuckles to warm up his hands. The sound snapped Jaune out of his trance and he spun wildly to face the Wolf Faunus.

"W-W-Wait a minute," He blurted hurriedly, "I'm not saying I'm not grateful for the extra help, but well, I kind of already asked Pyrrha to help me become a better fighter."

Instead of looking put-out like Jaune expected him to, Fenrir instead gave a small smile and nodded his head in understanding.

"Yeah I know, I saw the two of you training on the rooftop. Well done by the way." Fenrir praised, making Jaune rub the back of his head bashfully, "But here's the thing. Pyrrha can teach you how to wield a blade, and she can teach you how to use your Aura. But I will teach you how to use the weapons you were born with."

At that, Fenrir raised his arms and tapped his closed fist. Many times now, Fenrir had witnessed many Humans combat abilities become greatly limited by the simple act of being removed from their weapons. The Grimm couldn't deny it anymore, he'd grown close to this small, crazy group of young Huntsmen and Huntresses, and the thought of them dying was an unsettling idea to him.

Though, he knew how the world worked. He knew just how cruel, how uncaring it could be. For all their power, Fenrir knew this world would test each and every one of them, push them to their very limits.

And some of them, would break under that strain. In a world like Remnant, even the best can be killed without warning.

" _So, the least I can do is make sure they're as ready as they can be."_

Jaune visibly gulped as his eyes remained fixed to Fenrir's large fists. The sheer size of the Grimm in front of him was enough to make the boy feel like he staring death in the face. Though, Jaune was curious to see if there was actually something Fenrir could teach him. The Beowolf did strike him as a more scrappy type of fighter, and unlike Yang, it didn't seem like he was looking for an excuse to just vent some stress.

It seemed like he genuinely wanted to help.

"Uh, okay." Jaune agreed to Fenrir's plan unsurely, "Though I'm still not sold on the whole 'Alpha' thing. I mean, you have seen the others fight right?"

"That's true," Fenrir conceded, "The others are skilled warriors in their own right. And perhaps they too posses an Alpha's fire, but they are not my priority right now, you are. Plus, lets be honest Jaune, you need the help more than they do."

Jaune visibly deflated at Fenrir's harsh, but fair words. He was right of course; he needed all the help he could get. And well, Fenrir was offering, he should at least give it a shot.

"Now enough talking!" Fenrir exclaimed, lowering himself into a battle pose, "Come at me with everything you've got Jaune!"

Jaune jumped into position, swallowing a lump in his throat as he did.

"So, what do you want me to do exactly?" The blond asked uncertainly, "Just… hit you?"

"Basically, yes." Fenrir said with a lopsided grin.

"O-okay, and, this is just a spar right?" Jaune carried on, reminded of the Grimm's hair-trigger temper, "Your not gonna start actually trying to rip my head off are you?"

Fenrir's first instinct was to dismiss Jaune's fears, until he was reminded that he did have a habit of getting… lost in the middle of a fight.

"… I won't punch you."

" _That somehow doesn't make me feel better!"_ Jaune despaired internally.

Seeing that the Alpha was starting to lose patience, Jaune brought his own arms up in a fighting pose. In the back of his mind, the thought that what he was doing was tantamount to suicide remained ever present, but he couldn't really think of a way out of his situation.

Steeling himself, Jaune launched forward and prepared to deliver a left hook to Fenrir's jaw. Right at the last second however, the Blond teen completely lost his nerve, shut his eyes, and ended up striking the Grimm with all the force of a feather drifting in a light breeze.

Slowly opening his eyes, Jaune was greeted to the sight of an unimpressed looking Fenrir who hadn't even moved to dodge and now had the knights fist resting against his cheek.

"Uhhhh, heh heh." Jaune chuckled awkwardly as Fenrir just narrowed his eyes at him.

"Really?" Fenrir asked with an air of disappointment.

Before Jaune could attempt to apologise, Fenrir moved with blinding speed and span on his heel, his back now facing Jaune. Holding onto the boys still outstretched arm, Fenrir yanked Jaune towards him, sending the smaller boy up into the air before crashing back down to the training ring floor.

Jaune gasped as all the air in his lungs was forcefully shunted out of his body. Fenrir took a couple of steps back as Jaune composed himself on the floor.

"First lesson," Fenrir carried on as if he hadn't just thrown a man to the floor, "Treat every attack against your opponent with the intention that it is your last. The longer a fight lasts, the more energy you waste, so finish it quickly."

Jaune got back to his feet, really wishing that he hadn't stepped into the ring with this literal monster in front of him.

"C'mon Fenrir," The boy groaned, "This is more your area of fighting, not mine. I'm fine with just using my sword and shield."

Instead of relenting, the Grimm scowled deeply and folded his arms.

"Do you think any of my kind would care for your excuses?" The Grimm asked simply, making Jaune's protests die in his throat, "When you become a Huntsman, and you're out beyond the walls of the kingdoms, what do you think will happen if you find yourself in a fight, without your weapons?"

Before Jaune could answer, Fenrir cut him off, his eyes flashing and tail swaying sharply behind him.

"My people would descend like hellfire on you." The Beowolf answered, "They'd tear you apart, without any hesitation."

Jaune stared down at the floor, his expression turning dour as he was reminded of his inadequacy in combat. Fenrir could sense the doubt and worry start to build up in Jaune's soul, and winced as he realised that he might have said the wrong things to the self-doubting boy.

" _Okay, think. How do I turn this around?"_

Fenrir didn't have to think long, as the soft voice suddenly came to his aid.

" _Remember what Jaune said to Cardin in the forest of Forever Fall."_

Smiling slightly, Fenrir quickly figured out then what he needed to say to motivate the young male in front of him.

"Tell me something Jaune?" He asked aloud, catching the boys attention, "If you can't defend yourself, how are you supposed to defend your teammates, the ones you're supposed to be leading?"

That got a very different reaction from Jaune. The boy looked up at the wolf, mouth agape, before his eyes hardened and he stood up to his full height, all previous fear and worry gone from his expression.

"Alright, I got it." Jaune said, raising his arms as he did so.

Fenrir smirked as he felt Jaune's negative emotions disappear, and in their place was only stead-fast determination.

" _There's the fire I was looking for."_

"Good, now try again." Fenrir exclaimed as he got back into his battle pose, "And this time; mean it."

Jaune nodded, and the two combatants stared at each other for a while, waiting to see who would make the first move.

Then Jaune sprinted forward and aimed another swipe at the Alpha's head. Right away, Fenrir knew this punch would connect with quite a bit more force behind it, and swiftly ducked out of the way of the strike.

His ears perked up at the sound of rushing air to the side of him.

Jaune stumbled forward slightly, his momentum unbalancing him. Fenrir took the opportunity to deliver a swift kick to the small of Jaune's back. The lanky teen fell to the floor again, and Fenrir just caught the sound an aggravated growl come from the boy.

The Alpha's smile only grew at the noise.

"Sloppy, again." Fenrir instructed, before remembering the words Yang had spoken to him near the start of the school year.

"Keep your arms close to your body, you use less energy this way while still keeping all the power."

The young knight nodded at the Grimm's words, before getting up and refocusing again.

" _Remember what Pyrrha said."_ He told himself, _"Stance wide and low to the ground."_

Jaune leapt forward again, this time going for a punch to the gut. Fenrir caught the fist in his hand, and used his other hand to strike Jaune in the stomach. The boy doubled over, but quickly recovered at the sound of Fenrir's harsh tones.

"Too slow, again."

Jaune delivered a flurry of punches, making Fenrir raise his arms up to guard his head. Eventually, an opening appeared, and Fenrir used the window to strike out and catch Jaune right on the nose.

The young Arc grabbed his nose and yelped in pain as he took a few steps back.

"Weak, again!"

It became clear very quickly that Fenrir was a very different kind of teacher to Pyrrha. Yeah, the Spartan girl was tough, but she was also incredibly patient with him, teaching him all of the basics of fighting with a gentle air about her.

Fenrir, meanwhile, was not gentle. His style was more along the lines of, 'You either learn this now, or I make you eat dirt'. Truthfully, Fenrir was just teaching Jaune the same way his mother and father had taught him. He could easily recall the many nights his parents had trained him, and all the bruises and bumps he'd received from them.

He'd only ever beaten them both once, and that was the day that his parents deemed him ready to face the world on his own.

"Come on, surely you can do better than this." Fenrir said after a while of dodging and blocking Jaune's attacks.

It was clear Jaune was starting to get frustrated, as evidenced when he started to swing wildly at the Wolf Demon, just hoping to land a blow.

"Focus." Fenrir warned quietly, before offering a small grin to the boy, "I'm supposed to be the bad-tempered one, remember?"

That actually managed to get a breathless chuckle from Jaune, and the lanky teen quickly regathered his wits.

After that, Jaune gradually started to improve, causing Fenrir to actually have to start to put effort into avoiding Jaune's blows. At one point, Jaune unknowingly channelled Aura into his arm and all the Grimm saw was a flash of white light, before he was knocked back across the ring, his boots skidding along the floor before he collided hard against a corner post.

"Aagh!" Fenrir exclaimed in pain and surprise from both the pain in his back, and from the stinging sensation in his arm from the sudden, heavy impact.

Jaune's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he saw what he'd done.

" _Oh god, this is it, this is where I die. He is going to kill me, he's gonna kill me and drink all of my blood."_

Instead of launching forward and eviscerating Jaune for daring to strike him, Fenrir instead let out a booming laugh and grinned wildly at his fellow Alpha.

"Good! Much better!" He said loudly, before clenching his fists tight, "Now… again!"

Jaune blinked, as if expecting Fenrir to break character any second and brutalise him. When that didn't happen, Jaune grinned and rushed forward to see if he could hit Fenrir again.

But the wolf was ready for him this time, and expertly side-stepped Jaune's swing, reeled his fist back, and with a smile that would look more fitting on a serial killer, socked Jaune right across the jaw.

An audible 'THWACK!' resounded across the gym, and Jaune was knocked straight to the floor, groaning as his jaw throbbed painfully. Fenrir had debated whether or not to put some of his own Aura into that punch, but thought better of it when he realised he didn't want to send Jaune flying through a wall.

Jaune meanwhile, was thankful for his own plentiful Aura, as he figured a normal person would have had a tooth knocked loose from the brutal blow the Grimm had just given him.

Getting back to his feet, Jaune looked towards the midnight-haired teen and was baffled to see the normally overly serious Alpha, bouncing on his toes and grinning with an almost child-like giddiness.

Fenrir hadn't had this much fun in ages. Not since the days when he'd been just an ordinary Beowolf. As the two continued to spar, Fenrir could vividly recall the times he'd spent play-fighting against other Alpha's when there were no Humans around to kill. Some younger than him, some older than him. For Fenrir it was both a chance to prove himself as a strong fighter, and an opportunity to learn and improve his skills.

And as Jaune gradually became faster and quicker to react, the young Blond caught himself grinning right back at the Beowolf, the two simply enjoying each other's company.

You know, whilst beating the snot out of each other.

….

"That was some terrific improvement Jaune." Fenrir proclaimed as the two entered the break room, the room dimmed due to the overcast sky above, "We keep working at this, you'll be a proper Alpha in no time."

"Yeah, sounds great can't wait." Jaune said, only half-listening as he collapsed unceremoniously on the aging couch, his whole-body sore and bruising in places.

Fenrir, likewise, had a mild throbbing in his arms and his exhaustion was nearly double that of Jaune's due to the fact he'd been working out beforehand. But, he'd learnt how to deal with pain a long time ago, so it didn't bother him as much.

Whilst Jaune focused on getting his breath back, Fenrir strode over to the kitchen and started to make himself a coffee. He offered to make Jaune one, but the scraggly Blond politely declined. As Fenrir gazed unfocused out the window, Jaune looked at the Alpha and felt a question start to brew in his mind.

"Hey Fenrir?" He asked.

"Hmm." Fenrir grunted in reply.

"What is an Alpha to the Grimm?"

Fenrir turned and looked confusedly at the young Huntsman, quirking an eyebrow up at him.

"I mean, you talk about it a lot, but I don't know, what exactly does it mean to your people. I mean, for Humans it has a very different meaning."

" _Usually it means a guy who goes on dates with a lot of girls."_ Jaune thought cynically.

Fenrir crossed his arms and looked up at the ceiling in deep thought. After a minute of figuring out how best to explain it, Fenrir looked at Jaune and answered his question.

"An Alpha is a leader." He said simply, "An Alpha is the strongest, the fastest and the smartest member of the pack. But it's more than just that, they have to always put the safety and wellbeing of the pack above their own wants and needs, even be willing to die to ensure the rest of the pack survives. An Alpha is confident, fearless, bows to no one, and refuses to ever give up."

Fenrir poured ou a freshly made cup of coffee, and moved to sit next to the blond. Upon closer inspection, Jaune could see that Fenrir suddenly looked very tired, and he got the feeling it wasn't just from sparring earlier.

"But the thing about being an Alpha," Fenrir continued, his voice rumbling with a power that reminded the young knight of a strong, ancient mountain, "It's not just a title I could throw around whenever I wished to get whatever I wanted. It's also an expectation, it's a word that requires a certain wisdom and respect. If you call yourself 'Alpha', then you are judged constantly, and if you're found lacking in any way, then you are simply NOT an Alpha."

Fenrir leaned his head back, staring up at the solid white surface above him. In his mind, the melodic voice soothed his tired mind with its gentle tone.

" _Not just a title, but a badge you wear constantly."_

"Wow," Jaune breathed out, stunned at just how much weight that one word seemed to carry among the creatures of Grimm, "That… sounds like quite a burden."

"You have no idea." The Beowolf grumbled, taking a gulp from his mug as he did so, "Sometimes, it would get so tiring, having to constantly make sure I was putting everything into what I was doing, never faltering, never stopping. Sometimes, I wondered how my parents were able to do it so effortlessly."

"Your parents, they were Alpha's too right?" Jaune asked.

Fenrir nodded his head, his mind suddenly drifting to days long past. To the time when he had been just a small, weak little pup.

"My mother, she never took nonsense from anyone, even older Alpha's were intimidated by her. I bet she could have led a whole army if she was given the chance. And my Father, he was always the first to jump into battle, taking on as many Humans as he could, and no matter how bad things looked, he always kept fighting."

Jaune couldn't help but smile happily as he saw the larger boy grin nostalgically, his eyes still trained above. Fenrir could remember vaguely, when he'd been hiding in the bushes as his father had been attacking a Human caravan. A Huntsman, armed with a massive hammer, had attacked his father. The two battled fiercely, before Fenrir's father lifted up a whole wagon, chucked it at the Huntsman and used the small window to tear out the Human's throat.

"God's he was strong. They both were." Fenrir whispered.

The two sat in silence for a while. Jaune simply processing what he had heard. The way Fenrir talked about his people, he made them out as if they were some kind of fearsome warrior race.

An image in stark contrast to the one he'd been raised on. That of a swarm of evil, soulless monsters, hellbent on Humanities destruction.

It made him wonder, just how did the Grimm see his kind then.

"Well," Jaune said eventually, "They certainly sound like quite the… uhhh… Grimm."

Fenrir's smile dipped slightly as he was shaken out of his memories.

"I… I don't know if I ever actually loved them." He admitted, "But I definitely respected them, admired them. They were what I imagined all Alpha's to be like."

Another silence passed between the pair, before Jaune decided to be a bit bold.

"Well, considering that you're with the enemy now," He said warmly, "I think your still doing a pretty good job of being an Alpha."

Fenrir chuckled heartily at that statement and turned to look at Jaune properly, feeling that familiar warmth start to pulse out from his chest and spread across his whole body.

"Thanks," He said, mildly serious, "Your not too bad yourself."

The two laughed quietly to themselves. It had been a long day for the both of them, but now the two of them could just sit here and relax. For someone like Fenrir, as high-strung as he was, to be completely comfortable around anyone, was something he would cherish for a long time.

"So what about you?" The Grimm asked, "Your family has a long line of warriors. What are they like?"

"Oh," Jaune exclaimed, "Well, that's a long story. Like REALLLLY long."

Fenrir simply leaned back on the couch, taking another gulp of his warm beverage.

"I don't have anything else to do today." He said simply.

Jaune smiled, before taking a deep breath and started to tell the curious Grimm as much as he could about his family's long and proud history.

"Well, my father was a Huntsman, was one for many years before he had to retire early due to an injury. He actually helped establish a settlement on Patch. An island just off the coast of Vale. Then there was my Grandfather who fought in the Faunus war. He actually fought with the Faunus, believe it or not, he was one of the few Humans who actually supported the Faunus's cause. Then there was my Great Grandfather who…"

The two talked for several hours, hardly noticing when the day transitioned to night. At one point, Jaune even forgot that he was talking to someone who used to be a Grimm, in his mind he saw only a friend. All in all, it was a nice, quiet evening between the two young men as they bonded over their families and their relative inexperience with the Huntsman way of life.

Well, it was almost quiet.

"YOU HAVE HOW MANY SISTERS!.!.!"

 **A/N: One last chapter makes three in April alone. Not too bad if I do say so myself. So this chapter was purely just so I could solidify Jaune and Fenrir's relationship and confirm that the two are friends now.**

 **Now as a heads up, a lot of you asking when that romance tag is going to come into play. Well, I'm happy to announce that the next chapter will finally get the ball rolling on that front.**

 **So, next chapter: Fenrir finally repays a debt, and gains a new nickname from the endeavour.**

 **Leave a review as always to let me know your thoughts and I will see you next time.**


	31. Chapter 31: Repaying a debt

**A/N: Well here's a chapter I've wanted to write for quite a while now. I think this will be the one that confirms a few things for you avid readers, specifically what direction I plan to take Fenrir, romance-wise. So, hope you enjoy!**

 **Also: Thank you all so much for 1000 followers. It's a feat I honestly never thought this fic would reach. Glad my story was able to reach so many of you and I can only hope I can bring in more of you in the future.**

The sound of steel clashing against steel was a noise that Fenrir had quickly gotten used to during his tenure at Beacon. The Alpha tuned out the repetitive sound as he watched the two combatants duel in the centre of the sparring ring.

Today's current match was between Dove Bronzewing and Ruby Rose. The silver-eyed Reaper was currently dominating the match, using her Semblance to dash across the space and attack the brown-haired boy from every possible angle with her huge Scythe. Rose petals were littered all across the room, which was helpful for Fenrir in the sense that he was finally able to look at the things without wincing.

Next to him, the rest of team RWBY was cheering loudly [Well, Yang was cheering loudly enough to sound like three people], encouraging their leader to be victorious against her opponent. Fenrir, being much more reserved, simply watched the fight with an intense gaze, his eyes trained firmly on the young redhead.

Dove attempted to fire at Ruby with the gun built into his sword, but the effort was futile as Ruby easily dodged the Dust bullets, encasing herself in a red, rosy blur. That was Ruby's greatest strength in battle the Grimm had quickly realised, her insane speed, making her damn near impossible to hit. Combined with the reach and power of Crescent Rose, the young leader was undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with.

In a weird way, Fenrir felt proud that Ruby was the one to nearly kill him. If it had been a simple villager, he would have been burning with rage and humiliation for weeks on end. As Ruby pulled off another series of hacks and slashes that decimated Dove's already dwindling Aura, Fenrir blinked as something caught his eye and he quickly moved to open his notebook.

The Beowolf's handwriting skills were still… less than average. The others had tried their best to help him improve, but his notes still looked like a messy, unreadable scrawl even to him. Fortunately, while Fenrir still sucked at writing, he found drawing to be much easier, and as such, a more valuable use of his time.

Opening his book to a specific page, Fenrir quickly found a half-finished sketch of the young Rose herself. It was nothing spectacular, but he wasn't exactly looking to become a master artist, he was just doing it for fun.

" _For fun… guess that's a thing I can do now."_ Fenrir remarked with the barest hint of a smirk on his face.

As Fenrir resumed his work on the small doodle in his book, trying to capture exactly how Ruby moved in a fight, Ruby in real-life was quickly finishing up her fight. Using her Scythe like a scoop, Ruby chucked Dove up into the air, and then quickly shifted her weapon into its rifle form.

Three shots rang out in quick succession, each one hitting its mark dead centre as Dove could do nothing more than flail in the air. By the time the boy hit the floor, the match was already over.

"And the match goes to Ruby Rose." Goodwitch called out.

A light smattering of applause resounded around the classroom, the most vocal member being the Blonde brawler to Fenrir's immediate right. Ruby in response, simply gave a small, but happy smile to the room as she scratched the back of her head. Fenrir could only chuckle at the sight.

" _So confident on the battlefield, yet so awkward when off it. She's an odd one."_

Though Fenrir was quickly realising he didn't mind her oddness, he found it quite charming actually.

That or maybe he was just used to everyone else's craziness that stuff like this didn't faze him anymore.

As Ruby and Dove received their notes from Goodwitch, Fenrir finished up adding some extra details to his Ruby sketch. His plan was to have detailed drawings of each of team RWBY and team JNPR, in the hopes that by further observing and analysing their individual movements and attacks, he'd get a far better idea as to how they each individually fought. Maybe even, incorporate some of their moves into his own limited move set.

The sketch he had of Ruby was one of her in mid dash, her legs a rosy smear, and her weapon arched behind her in a way that it looked like she was preparing to swing it down on her opponents head. As he finished giving some final lines, Fenrir leaned back in his chair and admired his work.

" _Hmm, not bad. Not bad at all."_ Fenrir judged with a nod of his head.

However, as he continued to stare at the drawing of the young team leader, Fenrir felt his face morph from a neutral expression, to a troubled frown. A thought prodded at the back of his brain; a thought he hadn't paid too much attention to recently, but it now decided to remind him of its presence.

" _You still owe Ruby after she helped make your weapons."_

Frostbite, his gauntlets that currently sat tucked away in his locker. Without Ruby's help, they probably wouldn't even exist right now. More than just that, after Fenrir's identity was revealed, Ruby was the first person to try and reach out to him, the one person who didn't seem afraid of him, or disgusted by his presence. He owed her a debt for all of that.

And he still hadn't figured out how to repay that debt. Any idea he could think of either simply wasn't good enough, or not physically possible for him to do.

The longer he left it, the more his frustration towards the debt built. His Grimm pride demanded that he return the favour for what Ruby had done for him, but his brain simply couldn't come up with a good way to do that.

" _Why are Humans so complicated?"_ He lamented, _"If she were born a Grimm, I'd just help her on her next hunt and that would be the end of it. Sadly, I don't think she'd be pleased if I delivered a bunch of Human corpses to her dorm room."_

"You alright fuzzy? You're looking a bit down; I mean more than usual."

A voice to Fenrir's right snapped him out of his spiralling thoughts. Yang, having noticed the Beowolf's stormy expression, nudged his arm with her elbow. Fenrir quickly snapped his notebook shut [An action that did not go unnoticed by the Blonde], and looked at his fellow Gauntlet user warily.

"I'm fine Yang." He assured quickly, "Nothing wrong, outside of the usual."

"And just what is 'The usual'?" Yang felt the need to ask.

"Oh, you know, just the fact that I'm a Grimm in a Human body, in a school full of trainee Huntsmen, who all hate my guts AND I have three essays for Doctor Oobleck that all have to be done by the end of the week." Fenrir listed off sarcastically, "Other than that, life's great."

Yang just nodded her head at the Grimm's ranting, a teasing smile on her face, before she put her hands behind her head and looked back at the arena.

"Well, as long as you're happy big guy." She said in a coy manner.

Fenrir simply rolled his eyes and slouched forward in his chair, resting his head on his folded arms. Ruby was quick to re-join her fellow teammates who quickly engaged in a hushed conversation with her. If he strained his ears, Fenrir could just make out Weiss giving her usual critiques towards her young leader, though that wasn't all that surprising to the Alpha at this point.

Roughly ten minutes later, the final bell for the day rang out and signalled to the classroom that they could return to their normal lives. Fenrir gathered his belongings and took his usual spot on the fringes of the group as he and teams RWBY and JNPR went to go get dinner from the school cafeteria. It wasn't that the Beowolf wanted to avoid being seen with the group of eight, he just preferred being at the back so that he could effectively keep an eye on all of them at once. It was a little Alpha trick his mother had taught him when she was teaching him about how to look after a pack.

" _Even though they are not my pack."_ Fenrir forcibly reminded himself, _"They're just Humans who I spend an awful lot of time with… and I like to make sure they're safe. Oh boy."_

Fenrir shook his head, not fully comfortable with where his thoughts were heading, making his hair fall in front of his eyes briefly before he swept it back.

As the group made their way casually through the halls, Fenrir's eyes drifted back towards the Blonde brawler who was a few paces ahead of him. It was at that moment; the Grimm's brain finally presented a promising idea to him.

" _Yang is Ruby's older sister."_ He thought, the cogs in his brain starting to move faster as a plan formed in his mind, _"If anyone would know how best to repay Ruby, it'd be her."_

His mind made up, and lacking any other options, Fenrir dashed forwards and lightly tugged on Yang's arm.

"Hey Yang." He whispered, trying not to catch the others attentions.

"Sup." Yang responded, putting an unusual amount of emphasis on the 'p' sound.

"I need your help with something." The Alpha got straight to the point.

"Ooo, sounds exciting, what is it?" Yang asked, a big toothy grin on her face.

Fenrir simply tilted his head towards the back of the rapidly retreating red head who was leading their little group towards the cafeteria.

"Ruby," He started slowly, "She helped me build my weapons. And, when everyone found out what I really was, she still wanted to speak to me. So I… I want to do something for her in return, I was hoping you could help me figure out how to do that."

Yang's grin only grew the more Fenrir attempted to explain himself, to the point where when he was finished, she was practically beaming at him.

"Aaawww, you want to give my baby sister a thank you present. That's so cuuuute."

Fenrir narrowed his eyes and scowled hard at the brawler.

" _Do not call me cute."_ He seethed internally.

"It's not like that." He tried to explain, "I just owe her a debt, that's all. Now can you help me or not?"

"Okay, okay calm down fuzzy." Yang said, placatingly holding her hands up in surrender, though still not losing her grin, "Geez, I didn't think Grimm had such a thing as 'debts'."

"Yeah, well, we do, and I just want to get it over with." Fenrir snapped tersely, folding his arms across his chest.

For a while, the two walked together in silence, before Yang regained her composure and tried to actually help the floundering Beowolf.

"So, have you had any ideas yet?" she asked, "Maybe you could… get her some new parts for her weapon."

"Too expensive." Fenrir answered quickly, "I don't have that kind of money."

" _Actually, I don't have any money."_ Fenrir remembered, recalling how he'd given all his monthly student allowance to Jade just so she had a roof over her head, _"… I hope she's doing okay."_

"Okayyyy." Yang drawled out, eyes looking upwards in thought, "How about, you get her some food. You know Ruby's favourite food is…"

"Strawberries, yeah I know." The Grimm answered again with a shake of his head, "That just seems too easy. Making Frostbite, that took a lot of work. I need to think of something that's equal to that."

" _Man, he's really serious about this, isn't he?"_ Yang remarked as she rubbed at her chin thoughtfully.

The two continued to confer amongst themselves, chucking ideas back and forth as the group finally entered the schools large cafeteria. Every time he entered this space, Fenrir couldn't help but let his eyes drift towards the ceiling, reminiscing on the time he'd punched Dove up through the ceiling and made a hole in the roof.

As the two sat down, their trays laden with food, a figurative lightbulb went off in Yang's head and she brought the Beowolf closer towards her by tugging on his jacket sleeve.

"How about," She whispered conspiratorially, "Instead of buying her something, you _make_ her something instead. Like how she made your Gauntlets for you."

Fenrir seemed to think on it for a moment, before nodding his head slowly in agreement.

"That… That might just do it." He agreed, before furrowing his brow again, "But what should I make?"

"I have an idea for that too." Yang answered readily, her lilac eyes twinkling with an eager playfulness, "Meet me later in the student breakroom, I'll show you what I've got in mind."

Seeing an opportunity to finally clear his debt with Ruby, Fenrir was all too eager to agree with Yang. Having settled their plan, the two returned their attention to the rest of the table and joined in the conversation that had been taking place without them. Fenrir, once more trained his gaze across the whole group, keeping track of both their physical and emotional states.

Realising what he was doing, he shook his head roughly, putting a stop to his ingrained instincts.

" _Stop it!"_ He admonished himself, _"You're getting far too attached to these Humans. Besides, they can look after themselves, they don't need you looming over them. They are not your pack!"_

Yet no matter how many times he repeated this seemingly obvious truth to himself, the fact that his eyes kept flickering back to Ruby and reminding him of his debt, told him that his body was slowly rebelling against his mind.

Or, would it be more accurate to say his soul was rebelling?

…..

A few hours later, Fenrir decided enough time had passed and he made his way quickly from his room, to the first-year student breakroom where Yang told him to meet her. Along the way, what few remaining students there were in the halls all gave him scathing or fearful looks. A few even openly insulted him as he walked past them.

He didn't give them so much as a sideways glance.

" _I wonder what Yang's plan is?"_ Fenrir pondered as he approached the door to the breakroom.

A part of him worried that this could all just be another one of the Blonde's pranks, as she was prone to doing to him, Fenrir always falling for them since he didn't know any better.

A clear example being the time Yang offered him a can of peanut brittle and when he went to open it, it was instead full of paper snakes.

Yang nearly lost her hand that day.

" _Do not worry,"_ The soft voice whispered in his ears, _"This time, she's being genuine."_

" _And how do you know?"_ Fenrir questioned.

After getting nothing but silence in return, the Alpha sighed and stomped through the doorway.

" _I hate it when you're cryptic."_

Upon entering the empty room, Fenrir was greeted by a most unusual sight. An assortment of ingredients was laid out on the table. Graham crackers, butter, cream cheese, sugar, cream, a bottle of something [Fenrir could just make out the words 'Vanilla' written on the side], jam and a whole basket of bright red strawberries.

" _What the hell is all this for?"_

"Oh, finally! I was beginning to think you might have forgotten about all this."

A teasing voice brought Fenrir's attention back to the world around him. Yang stood off to the side, wearing a plain white apron with some words written on it.

" _Don't go_ _ **Bacon**_ _my heart?"_

Yang got a quiet enjoyment as she watched Fenrir slowly read the joke on her apron, his brow scrunch up in confusion for a minute, and then understanding dawn on his face followed by genuine laughter afterwards.

"Clever." The Beowolf commented, to which Yang gave a small bow of thanks, "So, what's all this about?"

"Well!" Yang exclaimed while clapping her hands, "I said you should make something for Ruby, so here's what you're going to make. A strawberry Cheesecake!"

" _A… Cheese… cake?"_ Fenrir's nose turned up at the strange-sounding confection.

"Hey, don't go making that face." Yang admonished, wagging her finger at the Beowolf, "Trust me, Ruby will love it if you give this to her. I used to make sweets and cakes like this for her back on Patch, whenever she was feeling down about… about stuff."

Fenrir's sixth sense caught the sadness undercutting Yang's tone at the end, and he frowned as he remembered the conversation he'd had with Ruby in the forge.

"So, uh…" Fenrir stumbled, still feeling awkward about dealing with Human emotions, "Do you really think this will clear my debt with your sister?"

"Absolutely!" Yang perked up instantly, surprising the Grimm, "No one knows my sister better than me. If you get this right, she'll be as happy as Zwei when he gets tummy rubs."

" _Zwei… that's her pet dog."_ Fenrir's subconscious answered the Grimm's question, causing the boys eyes to go unfocused for a second before coming back to reality.

" _Well, it's not like I have any better ideas at this point. Besides, Yang seems sure that this will work. If this will clear my debt to Ruby, I'll do it."_

Committing himself to the idea, Fenrir took slow strides to the countertop laden with ingredients and gave them a scrutinising eye. A thought occurred to the Beowolf that gave him pause yet again.

"Umm, Yang." Fenrir started slowly, "I… I've never actually baked a cake before. I've never made my own food before… hunted it, certainly."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that might be the case," Was Yang's retort, "Relax big guy, I'll help you out. Fortunately, this cheesecake doesn't need to be cooked like a normal cake, which is good because the thought of you being near an oven… Yeah I think that's just tempting fate."

Fenrir agreed with the statement that him being near an oven was just destined to end in a lot of property damage. Still, he couldn't stop the frown that creased his features as he quickly came to another realisation.

"But Yang, if you help me with this, I'll just be right back where I started, only now I'll be indebted to you instead of Ruby."

Now Yang's confident expression fell completely, replaced instead with an irritated scowl.

"Oh, wow, you Grimm really are impossibly stubborn aren't you?"

When Fenrir's response was a simple shrug of his shoulders, Yang rubbed the sides of her temples and then opened her eyes, the brightness of them indicating that the brawler had recovered her drive.

"Okay, how about this," She suggested, "You can make it up to me by leaving me a slice once you've given the rest to my Rubbles. I WON'T accept anything else Fenrir."

Fenrir had been about to retort, but the last part of Yang's suggestion cut him off. Letting out a resigned sigh, Fenrir gave a simple nod of his head to show he agreed with Yang's idea.

" _Maybe I should drop the whole debt thing after this is all cleared up, or at least ease up on it."_ Fenrir wondered, _"At this rate, I'll never have any time for myself, not that I had much to begin with."_

"Okay Yang." Fenrir said, nodding his head and gathering his determination, "Let's get this done!"

"Hell yeah!" Yang cried out, pumping her fist into the air.

As the two turned to get to work, [Yang quickly telling Fenrir to wash his hands first] The Y of team RWBY gave a sly glance towards her new Beowolf partner.

" _I never would have thought Grimm had such a strict set of rules for themselves."_ She mused, _"Oh well, it's still cute how he wants to give my little sis a gift. One things for sure, these next few hours are definitely going to be entertaining for me… plus it doesn't hurt that for a Beowolf, he's VERY easy on the eyes."_

At that moment, Fenrir suddenly stiffened up and his face twisted into a disturbed grimace.

" _Why did I just feel a cold chill wash down my back?"_

… _.._

Just as Yang predicted, the next few hours spent in the small kitchen with the Grimmborn were highly entertaining for her, but they were also very messy. It had all started when Fenrir had gotten a little too enthusiastic with breaking up the Graham crackers.

She'd only just gotten enough time to catch the manic gleam in his eye as he reduced the crackers to crumbs, before he brought both his fists up behind his head and slammed them into the bowl, chucking nearly all of the cracker crumbs up into the air and scattering them across the kitchen floor.

"Uhhhhhh… Sorry." Fenrir apologised, Yang glaring at him while brown flecks clung to her hair, "I just… it's been a while since I've gotten to break something."

Grimm had a natural impulse for destruction, and being in a new form hadn't diminished that desire for Fenrir at all.

After that, things progressed in a slightly smoother fashion, Fenrir stubbornly insisting he do most of the work, and Yang directing him as best she could. At some points, Yang did have to get a bit insistent with the prideful Alpha and take over from his efforts. This would immediately result in the Grimm becoming moody and pouty.

Fortunately, Yang already knew a full-proof way to break through the large teens icy exterior.

"Hey, stop grumbling you big lug," Yang piped up cheekily, "Or else, this is gonna take a **Xiao-Long** time."

A moment of silence, and then the satisfying sound of Fenrir trying to hold in his giggles as his tail wagged behind him, betraying his stern constitution. Still, it achieved the desired result as Fenrir instantly lost some of his tension and went back to patiently waiting for Yang to rectify his mistake.

After a couple of hours had passed and the duo had pretty much finished making the cheesecake, Fenrir felt his curiosity spike a little as he gave a wayward glance to the cheery Blonde next to him. She'd mentioned earlier how she'd given this treat, and others like it to her younger sister. Recalling his conversation with Ruby in the forge, Fenrir remembered how the two had both grown up without either of their mothers featuring much in the picture.

" _I'll need to be careful here. Yang isn't like Ruby; she'll definitely get rough with me if I push her too much."_

Taking a moment to very carefully choose his words, Fenrir inclined his head towards the brawler and spoke quietly.

"So, you say you've given this to Ruby before, back on the place of your birth."

It was a simple question, one that Fenrir felt would work as an easy introduction to this soon-to-be interrogation.

"Yeah." Yang's tone remained upbeat, but her eyes showed how she was aware of Fenrir's own serious expression, "Back on Patch, the island we grew up on, I did everything I could to make my little sis happy. I fed her, played games with her, let her sleep with me whenever she had nightmares, I even tried to teach her how to fight like me, though that last one didn't work out as well as I'd wanted it to."

Fenrir nodded carefully as he processed Yang's words. After hearing all that the girl had done for the younger redhead, it almost sounded like Yang was Ruby's mother, not her sister.

"Ruby…" Fenrir hesitated, on the edge of passing the point of no return, "She told me about what happened to your mothers, both hers and yours. Yours vanished one day, and hers… She died, didn't she?"

Fenrir didn't need his sixth sense to know the negative energy in the room had drastically risen. Yang's happy expression completely fell away and she was no longer looking the Wolf in the eye. It was like watching a sunflower wilt and die right in front of him.

"…Yeah." Was Yang's only response.

The two stood in silence for what felt like an eternity, the cheesecake lying off to the side all but forgotten.

"Was it…" Fenrir started, stopped, and then gathered his nerve, "Was it Grimm?"

"I don't know." Yang answered, "No one does really."

Another agonising silence smothered the room, Fenrir not having a clue how to carry on from this point.

"She was only five when it happened." Yang surprised the Grimm by speaking up, "I think she barely remembers her now, even my memories of her aren't that great."

Yang turned to look out the nearby window, making the Alpha belatedly realise the sky had darkened outside, the moon obscured by ash-grey clouds. With her back turned to him, Fenrir was able to more closely observe Yang's emotional state.

What he saw made him frown in annoyance. A dark, swirling void that writhed in the Blonde's centre. Staring directly into the thing, the Beowolf felt like he was staring into an endless void. A bottomless well of dark thoughts and hopeless emotions.

" _I need to find out what these things are. Why am I seeing them now? What purpose do they serve?"_

"But what I do remember about her, was that she was the best mother anyone could ask for." Yang continued, a sad smile tugging at her lips in remembrance, "She wasn't my birth mother, but as far as I was concerned, she was more a mother to me than my actual mom. When she… passed away, I kinda used her as an example when taking care of Ruby. Any time I was stumped on what to do, I would just ask myself 'What would mom do?'."

Fenrir listened quietly, his mouth hanging open slightly at all the raw emotion being displayed. All the while, the dark void continued to spiral around Yang, her golden hair nearly being swallowed whole by the shadows. Despite all this, Fenrir couldn't help but point out one crucial detail that was missing from this story.

"What about your father?" He asked, "When Ruby's… your Mother passed on, surely he must have stepped up and took care of you both. But it sounds like you had to do most of the work, you, a child. If that's the case, then where the hell was he?"

"HE TRIED!"

Yang's explosion of anger startled the Grimm so much that he had to take a step back as the shorter girl got right up in his face. Her eyes were suddenly a scorching red and her hair was glowing slightly, a wave of heat washing over the Grimm's body.

" _Okay, I know I said this before, but I am seriously wondering now if she is in fact part-Grimm."_

Fenrir didn't get much time to wonder as Yang was on him, jabbing at his chest roughly.

"He tried to pull himself together for us! But he'd just lost the love of his life, TWICE! He just couldn't cope. So yeah, I had to step up, and yeah, there was a point where I was mad at him for it. But…"

Yang halted, her eyes shifting back to lilac, but the black void continuing to writhe aggressively around her. Backing off from a still startled Fenrir, Yang's expression turned dour as she stared down at the floor.

"But I get it now." She said quietly, "He was just too heart-broken. Eventually, he picked himself up and started being our dad again, around the time Ruby just got into Signal. And now… here we are, both of us far from Patch, and me having to come to terms with the fact that Ruby's growing up faster than I want her to."

Yang turned her back on the Grimm, realising too late that she'd said too much to the Wolf-Demon. Fenrir meanwhile just stared wide-eyed at the girl. She had told him a lot more than he had been expecting, but at least now he had the full story behind the two sisters.

" _Jeez, my childhood was better than theirs."_ The Alpha nearly laughed at the cruel irony of that statement, _"At least both my parents were AROUND when I was a pup."_

Meanwhile, the black void seemed to grow inside, the negative energy reaching a fever pitch that made Fenrir worry that other Grimm would start to notice it from miles away. Unbeknownst to Fenrir, as he continued to stare at the negative well, his eyes started to shift to a burning crimson and his lips curled up in an aggressive fashion.

" _I don't know what you are,"_ He seethed, _"But I want you to_ _ **go away!**_ _"_

" _It's the source of all her negative emotions."_ The soft voice answered in Fenrir's mind, _"It's the core of all her pain, her sadness, her despair. There is no getting rid of it, it's part of her just as your anger is a part of you. But… you can lessen it somewhat, if you choose the right words."_

" _The right words?"_

Fenrir was puzzled by that last part, but the voice had actually given him an answer for the voids he'd been seeing more and more at this academy. On reflection, it should have been obvious, they only appeared whenever one of these Humans were talking about something deeply rooted to their beings. Something from their past that had shaped them into who they were today.

For Jaune, it was his worries and guilt over being a fraud. For Ruby, it was the grief of losing her mother at a young age. For Blake… he still wasn't sure on that one, but he figured it must have something to do with the discrimination the Faunus had to suffer through.

Now for Yang, he could only guess that it was the fact that she'd had to be a maternal figure for her younger sister, whilst still being a child herself. He couldn't imagine the kind of stress that would place on her.

And on top of all that, she now had to deal with the fact that her sister had been fast-tracked ahead of everyone else and was now in the same year as everyone else.

" _Huh, just like Yang, she's been forced to grow up quicker than those her age."_

As Yang continued to withdraw in on herself, Fenrir felt that need within himself start to well up. The need to help, to offer some kind of aid, though he had no idea how he could provide anything to this situation.

" _What are these Humans doing to me? I was never like this before."_

Still, Fenrir didn't like this quiet, reserved version of Yang. It just didn't look right on her.

" _In this scenario, being honest Is probably your best bet here."_ The soft voice suggested.

" _Honesty huh?"_

Figuring he should probably take the voice's advice; Fenrir took a moment to make sure that what he said was absolutely clear and in his favour. When he felt sure of his words, he began.

"I'm sorry." The words were so sharp that Yang almost didn't notice them, but when she did she stared at the Grimm with a mildly suspicious glint in her eyes.

"I can't imagine what that must have been like," He said, his voice rumbling in his core, "Though from the sounds of it, I can guess it was far from easy for you. I apologise for my comment about your father, it wasn't needed. I don't know, I wasn't there, so it is not my place to judge the man."

The Alpha crossed his arms and regarded Yang for a moment before carrying on, his tail swaying calmly behind him.

"My parents, they were far from loving, but at least they were always there. They raised me, protected me whenever I did something stupid, which back then was quite often." Fenrir felt his tension ease when that last comment drew up a warm chuckle from Yang.

"Bit of a trouble-maker as a kid, were ya?" Yang asked, a cocky grin returning to her face.

"Aaahh, my eyes were bigger than my brain back then." Fenrir admitted, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Indeed, there were many times during his youth where he'd gotten himself into trouble. Such as the time he'd tried to take on a group of Human soldiers by himself… at just four months old.

Both his mother and father had had to quickly dive in to stop him from being killed.

" _Ugh, what was I thinking back then?"_

"Sounds like your parents would have quite the stories to tell. I kinda want to meet them now."

Yang's comment got a full-on laugh from the Grimm then.

"They'd kill you on sight," He reminded her with a quirk of his eyebrow, "They're Grimm remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Yang guffawed.

Seeing that Yang's bad mood was all but gone, Fenrir recalled one last thing he wanted to say to the girl before he could move on from this topic. Truthfully, all this honesty was making his head spin, he still wasn't used to giving HUMANS praise.

But his Mother had taught him to be nothing more or less than an honest beast.

"Hey Yang." Fenrir caught the Blonde's attention once again, and he gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile, "For the record, I think you've done right by Ruby. I mean, the fact that she's two years ahead of her peers speaks volumes of how well you've taken care of her. She's growing into a strong fighter, a good leader and a… very special woman. She's lucky to have you as a sister."

Fenrir felt out of breath after all that. All the same, he was glad he had gotten it all out in the open. Truly, this evening had been highly beneficial for the demon. Not only had he devised a way to finally repay his debt to the silver-eyed red-head, but he now had a much more detailed background on the two Huntress sisters.

" _Well of course,"_ The soft voice whispered playfully, _"How can an Alpha protect his pack if he doesn't know anything about them."_

Fenrir had to work hard to make sure his embarrassed scowl was kept internal at that comment.

Yang, meanwhile, looked at Fenrir in astonishment. When she had initially proposed the idea of baking a cake to Fenrir, she'd had no idea that it would lead to such an emotional conversation between her and the Beowolf teen. Most shocking off all though, was his face during the whole thing.

His smile. It had changed from this large, horrifying nightmare version of a smile that would look at home on a serial killer, to this small, soft, genuine uplift of his lips that seemed to remove years off his face.

Plus his eyes. In the low lighting, they seemed to glitter like freshly fallen snow. And she could see, just for a second, behind the abrasive attitude, a warm, inviting kindness that shocked Yang in just how much they looked like Ruby's eyes.

After taking a second to process Fenrir's words, Yang was helpless to stop the beaming smile that crossed her face, nor the enriching warmth that flooded through her body. Finally, after all these years, someone had shown appreciation for her efforts to care for her little sister. Not that she'd ever demanded praise for it, she was cocky, but she liked to think she wasn't that self-absorbed.

But still, a Grimm had seen what she'd done, acknowledged it, and was now complimenting her for it. It meant more to her than she'd ever be able to express.

"Uhhh, heh, wow, thanks Fenrir. That's… really something I needed to hear."

Fenrir simply gave a tilt of his head and the two stood in a far more comfortable silence than before.

"Hey wait a minute!" Yang piped up suddenly, "In all this talking we forgot about the cake, we still need to decorate it, come on fuzzy."

Fenrir chuckled and moved to join the Blonde, pleased to see her normal attitude was fully back in place. However, his good mood was cut short by a sudden, surging feeling.

Looking down, Fenrir very nearly screamed when he saw what was happening. The dark void that had been swirling around Yang was starting to shrink, smoky black tendrils seeping off of the writhing mass and flowing straight into the Grimm himself.

It was like ice-water was being injected directly into his bloodstream, he could even feel it behind his eyes. As the darkness started to fill him up, Fenrir could feel raw, dark _power_ fill his muscles. Any fatigue or exhaustion he'd built up through the trials of the day was instantly erased and the Grimm realised he'd never felt more energetic than he did at this very moment.

" _WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! DID I JUST… DID I JUST SUCK UP HER NEGATIVE ENERGY?!"_

Looking back at the well, Fenrir noted it was smaller now. Not completely gone, but a very significant chunk had been taken out of it.

"Hey Fenrir, you okay" Yang asked while waving her hand in front of the Alpha's face, "Don't go spacing out on me now, we're almost finished."

"Uh, sorry." Fenrir said, shaking his head roughly, "Just… thinking about stuff."

It was hopelessly vague, but Yang said nothing more about, only giving him a suspicious look before turning back to their work.

" _I finally interacted with one of those void things."_ Fenrir pondered, _"I seemed to drain t somehow, and now I feel really, REALLY good."_

" _Well, you helped to dispel some of her negative emotions."_ The calming voice explained, _"With it having nowhere to go, it went into you. From the looks of things, that was a trait your original body possessed, not something gifted with your new form."_

" _Huh, I didn't know my kind could do that."_ Fenrir remarked, too stunned to have much of a reaction outside of that.

" _Well, I doubt you would have had much use for it before. You were trying to kill humans, not fix their problems."_

Unable to deny that logic, Fenrir brought himself back to the current space and moved to stand beside the Blonde, who had a confused look on her face.

" _I feel… weirdly light and bouncy right now. Like a weight's just been taken off my shoulder. Guess I really needed a talk with someone. I feel great right now!"_

"Right!" Yang declared, clapping her hands together, "Lets decorate this puppy. We've got this big basket of strawberries here, so let's go crazy. Trust me, with Ruby, you can never have too many strawberries."

As the Beowolf looked down at the small, red fruits, a sudden thought made his entire body freeze up.

" _Wait… Strawberry… berry… rhymes with… very. Oh… OH OH OH OH WAIT A MINUTE!"_

Before Yang could make any suggestions, Fenrir lurched forward and stared the brawler straight in the face, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Yes Yang," He began slowly, "We must make sure it's… **Berry** tasty for Ruby."

Fenrir held his hands out in front of himself, eyes alight and all of his fanged teeth on display. A long moment passed where Fenrir just stared at Yang, waiting impatiently for some kind of reaction, but Yang gave none.

" _Di… Did I do it wrong?"_

After a solid minute of nothing, Yang finally gave the beast an affectionate pat on the shoulder before giving him a wobbly smile.

"Oh Fenrir," She said, shaking her head, "That was a good try, but your delivery was way off. You're supposed to hold on the word, not race right past it. It took me too long to realise you'd even made a joke."

"…Oh."

Fenrir visibly deflated, his ears falling flat on the top of his head and his tail sagging down to the floor.

"But, luckily for you, you've got a pun-master as a friend now, I'll show you the **ropes**."

With that, Yang pulled a small piece of knotted string out of her pocket.

"… Do you just, carry that around with you everywhere?" Fenrir asked, staring bewilderedly at the small item.

"Yep."

The Beowolf could only chortle at the sheer absurdness of the sight he'd just witnessed. Deciding then and there to leave the jokes to Yang, the Wolf rolled his shoulders and prepared to finish off his gift to Ruby.

…..

" _Man, even a day later, I still feel full to bursting with energy."_

After the Beowolf and the Brawler had concluded their business in the kitchen, Fenrir had found himself unable to go asleep. The negative energy he had unwittingly siphoned from Yang had left him with a need to move, to expel the build-up of power he had acquired.

So, in the early hours of the morning, Fenrir had gone down to the vacant Gymnasium and trained. The difference between when he did this normally, and when he did it when fuelled on negative energy was staggering.

He could run faster, lift more, hit harder, and go for far longer than he had before.

Even now, his body was till charged up on the stuff, leading to a very embarrassing moment in Grimm studies where he couldn't contain himself anymore and ended up bench-pressing a Boarbatusk taxidermy statue right in front of Professor Port.

The old Huntsman had been both confused and impressed by the young man's zeal.

" _Imagine if the rest of my kind figured out we had this ability, to siphon the negative emotions of Dustlings and convert it into power. We'd be invincible."_

" _Yeah, well just wait for the crash."_

" _Crash?"_ Fenrir asked the soft voice, wondering what it could possibly be talking about now.

Before he could get an answer, Fenrir rounded a corner and saw team RWBY gathered round one of the many fountains that dotted Beacon academy's courtyard.

Fenrir halted in place, took a steadying breath, and then marched towards the four girls, resolve swirling in his navy eyes.

It was the end to another day at Beacon, and Fenrir had decided that now was probably the best time to finally clear his debt with the leader of team RWBY.

The closer he got to the group, the more his nerves started to rise, cold sweat starting to build at his temples and his hands clenching into fists.

This wasn't like the other times where Fenrir had been indebted to another Grimm. He was relying on nothing but hope that Ruby would consider his gift acceptable. If this didn't work…

" _No! None of that."_ He admonished himself, _"We are going to do this, and it will work."_

As he got near the group, Fenrir's ears perked up as he caught the sound of Yang's joyful laughter.

The Alpha hadn't been the only one acting odd today. Yang's entire disposition had been downright sunny all day. Even when she'd gotten a D on her latest Homework results, her bright smile had never left her face. When asked if there was anything wrong by her sister, Yang had simply shrugged and said she just felt really happy today.

"Hey yo!" Yang greeted, spotting the leather-wearing Grimm before anyone else, "Come to see if you can lift the statue Fenrir?"

Fenrir grumbled in annoyance, not needing to be reminded of his obscenely high energy levels today. Shaking his head, Fenrir focused his attention fully on the cloak-wearing girl sitting at the base of the fountain.

"Ruby." He addressed in his usual straight-forward manner.

"Hmm, what's up Fenrir?"

Ruby stared up at the larger male, her round, silver eyes shining in the afternoon sun. Fenrir swallowed a sudden lump in his throat and gestured with his head back the way he had come.

"I need to show you something. Something important."

Yang's smile amazingly grew in size as she knew what the Grimm was about to do. Weiss offered a suspicious eyebrow but nothing more.

Blake surprisingly had the most animated reaction, her head shooting up from the book she had previously been reading and staring at both Ruby and Fenrir with a frenzied look in her eyes.

" _What's with that expression?"_ Fenrir wondered, more than a little unnerved by the sight.

"Oh, sure." Ruby picked herself up off the ground, waving back to her friends, "I'll see you guys back at the dorm."

As Fenrir turned to lead the way, he just caught a brief glimpse of Yang giving him a thumbs up as he walked off.

" _Really hope this plan of yours works Yang."_

When the two teens had departed from the courtyard, Yang and Weiss got up to leave in the opposite direction, heading for the first-year dormitories.

Blake meanwhile…

"Hey, where do you think you're going Blake?"

The teasing lilt in Yang's voice made the Faunus stiffen up.

"… Returning a book." Was Blake's quick response.

Before either Yang or Weiss could retort, Blake disappeared leaving only a shadowy outline where she had just been standing.

"Why is everyone acting so weird today?" Weiss huffed before storming off.

"Or maybe, you're just being especially boring today?" Yang questioned, grinning mischievously as Weiss instantly turned red in indignation.

….

" _I've never seen Fenrir look so fidgety."_

Ruby looked at Fenrir's back as he walked ahead of her, noting how his tail would curl in on itself and his arms remained rigid at his sides. It was obvious to Ruby [Along with everyone else] that the Grimm had been acting strangely today, unable to stand still for more than a few seconds.

When they'd been sitting at their desks, the red head had felt the vibrations in her seat from where the Beowolf's legs had been bouncing up and down.

When Ruby realised that the pair were making their way towards the first-year breakroom, Fenrir finally turned to face the smaller girl.

"Ruby," He grumbled, "Do you remember when you helped me build Frostbite?"

"Huh?" Ruby asked, "Well, of course, we spent a whole week building them. What's wrong? Did they break?"

Fenrir quickly shook his head and moved to stand in front of the doorway, blocking the inside from Ruby's vision.

"No, no they're fine." The Alpha said, "But the thing is… Whenever a Grimm does something good for another Grimm, that Grimm owes the one who helped him a debt. It was a rule we put in place a long time ago, to make sure tensions between the different races never got too bad."

Ruby nodded her head as she followed along as best she could with Fenrir's hurried explanation.

" _The Grimm have rules. That just SOUNDS made up."_

"So, what I'm saying is…" Fenrir was now making a very Ruby-like gesture by tapping his pointer fingers together and refusing to look the girl in the eye, "Is that I made you something, and I'm really hoping you like it and that I don't make myself look like more of a fool and Ijustreallywanttostoptalkingnow…"

Fenrir almost bit his own tongue in an attempt to stop his word vomit. When Ruby finally understood what Fenrir had just said, her face became filled with panic as she frantically waved her arms in front of herself.

"WHAT!" She yelled, "No, no Fenrir you didn't have to get me anything! I just wanted to give you some weapons, I didn't want anything for it."

Fenrir had already figured Ruby might have a reaction like this judging by both Yang's and Ozpin's initial reactions to his idea. Still, not being one to back down, Fenrir gave the young leader a pointed look.

"Ruby," He said calmly, "Just let me do this, please."

Ruby appeared hesitant for a second before finally nodding her head in affirmation at the Grimm. Fenrir moved to walk through the doorway, before a sudden idea struck him.

"Close your eyes."

"What?" Ruby asked, not sure if she'd heard the boy right.

"It's uhh… It's a surprise."

Ruby actually chuckled in amusement at the rather childish suggestion, but upon seeing the nervous look in the Beowolf's eyes, Ruby complied and shut her eyes.

Fenrir actually waved a hand in front of her face to make sure she actually had her eyes shut. When there was no reaction from the silver eyed reaper, Fenrir couldn't help the toothy grin that now adorned his face as he gently led Ruby by the shoulders towards the kitchen. Excitement and fear both battled for dominance in the Wolf Faunus's brain as he let go of Ruby and moved towards the fridge.

" _Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work…"_

"Can I open them now?" Ruby asked, her head turned in the opposite direction to where Fenrir was.

"Not yet."

Quickly, Fenrir carried the small cake over to the countertop and set it carefully down in front of the girl.

"Alright," Fenrir said, taking a step back, "Now."

Ruby slowly opened her eyes and beheld the room she was in. At first, her brow furrowed in confusion as she didn't immediately see Fenrir's surprise.

But then she looked down, and let out a tiny gasp as her eyes widened. Fenrir could have sworn they were sparkling like polished silver.

A small, circular cake, a dusty pink in colour with the base being a golden brown. On top, dozens of strawberry slices decorated the confection, all while drizzled in a rich, red jam sauce.

"I… Is this?" Ruby asked breathlessly.

"It's a strawberry cheesecake." Fenrir said, wringing his hands off to the side.

"Did you make this?" Was Ruby's next question.

"Well, your sister gave me some help. I did try to do it myself but, well, I've never made anything like this, so I didn't really know what I was doing, and I don't even know if it'll taste good so OOF!"

Fenrir was cut off mid-rant as a rosy blur suddenly collided against him and knocked the wind out of him. For one, maddening moment, he thought he was being attacked. But then, when he looked down, he saw the top of Ruby's head burrowing into his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.

"OOOOO THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

Ruby's high-pitched squeal rattled around in Fenrir's head before he finally remembered how to speak.

"W-what are you doing?" He asked fearfully, holding his arms way off to the side.

" _Does she hate it? Is she trying to choke me? What's going on?"_

"I… I was just giving you a hug." Ruby said once she detached herself from the now statuesque Beowolf.

Fenrir just gave Ruby a look that said he didn't have the slightest idea what she was talking about.

"Seriously." Ruby exclaimed, astounded, "Did your parents never even hug you?"

"I… don't think so." Fenrir said in an unsure manner.

" _If they did, I don't remember it."_

Ruby appeared sad for a moment, before deciding she should explain to the wolf what she had just done.

"A hug is… something friends do with each other when they're happy… or something like that."

" _Great explanation Ruby."_ The girl admonished herself, _"Gah, I wish I was better at stuff like this."_

While Fenrir still didn't fully get it, his ears were able to pick out one part of that explanation that made elation start to fill his centre.

"Happy…" He whispered to himself before staring at Ruby with cautiously excited eyes, "So… You like it?"

"AH!" Ruby made a weird sound before bouncing on the balls of her feet, "Of course I like it, it looks delicious."

Victory. Victory and success. For Fenrir, there was no sweeter feeling than this. And looking at Ruby's shining, silver eyes, Fenrir knew he had accomplished his mission and repaid his debt to the young leader.

"Then it is yours!" He proclaimed proudly, beaming widely at the girl as she moved to get a knife from the drawer.

"Oh, thanks so much for this Fenny! You're the best Grimm ever!"

Fenrir soaked in the praise like a dying fish soaked up water, before his eyes snapped open and he reacted to what Ruby called him.

"Wait… Fenny?!" He asked incredulously.

All at once, Ruby became incredibly bashful, scuffing the floor with her boots and gripping the back of her cloak in a tight ball.

"Oh, yeah. I was trying to think of a nickname I could call you, and that was the only one that came to mind. Do you not like it?"

Ruby looked up at him then with those big, child-like eyes of hers, and Fenrir was instantly brought back to the groups trip to the forest of Forever Fall. When Ruby, Nora, Pyrrha and Yang had shot him with the exact same look, and it had instantly broken through his defences.

"Uh, I… well…" Fenrir said in a strangled voice, looking away and folding his arms, "I guess it's fine. But please, don't call me that in front of the others, it's bad enough I have to deal with 'Fuzzy', 'Wolfy' and 'Big guy'."

Agreeing to Fenrir's request, Ruby eagerly turned back to the cake and cut herself a slice. Fenrir unknowingly held his breath as the Scythe-wielder took a small bite out of the treat.

"MMMMMMMM!" Ruby held a hand to her face as her taste buds sang with joy, "It's delicious!"

Fenrir let out a quiet sigh of relief and allowed himself to smile again.

"Happy to hear it."

While Ruby continued to sate her sweet tooth, Fenrir grabbed the discarded knife and started cutting out a piece for himself.

"Oh, are you having some too?" Ruby asked innocently.

"No," Fenrir denied with a shake of his head, "I just promised your sister I'd save her a slice."

"Oh yeah. Did Yang really help you make this?"

"Yes," Fenrir admitted, "Actually she was the one who suggested I make you something like this. Were it not for her, I'd probably still be trying to figure out a way to repay you."

" _Wow, how long was he keeping this to himself?"_ Ruby wondered to herself, _"f he'd just said something, I could have just told him he didn't need to go to all this trouble. Still, it was really nice of him to do this."_

"I learned a great deal from Yang during all this," The Alpha continued, showing Ruby a warm smile, "You certainly have quite the sister, she really cares about you."

"I mean, yeah I guess," Ruby admitted reluctantly before pouting slightly, "But sometimes she can be a bit much you know? Sometimes she still treats me like a kid."

"Well, I mean…" Fenrir started, his grin now turning into a more mischievous one, "Who was it that had a mountain-sized bowl of ice-cream for dessert, that was also piled with cookies the size of my hands? Oh wait! It was you!"

Ruby's nose scrunched up as she picked a strawberry slice off of the cake and flicked it at Fenrir's nose.

"Jerk." She grumbled as Fenrir just chuckled

"Heh heh heh, I've been called worse."

Ruby silently ate her cake slice for a while, before she looked back at the Demon with a newfound curiosity in her eyes.

"Do Grimm have anything like that?"

"Anything like what?" Fenrir asked in reply.

"Brothers and sisters?"

Fenrir's response was a dry, humourless huff as he leaned against the countertop.

"Ruby, Natural-born Grimm are rare enough already, only one in ten remember?" Fenrir explained, "Siblings, that's practically unheard of among my people. The closest thing I can think of is some King Taijutu's like to think of their second heads as their twin."

"Oh." Was Ruby's only response before shrugging her shoulders, "Well, I suppose theirs always Brothers/Sisters-in-arms."

Fenrir quirked an eyebrow at this new phrase.

"That's a new one. What does that mean?" He asked.

"Oh, well, when two people fight together for a long time, they start to think of each other like family." Ruby explained to the attentive Grimm, "'Fire forges the strongest bonds', or something like that. I think that's how the saying goes."

"You Humans sure do have a lot of sayings?" Fenrir remarked with a shake of his head.

"Don't you Grimm have any of your own?" Ruby said.

The Beowolf was about to say no, before he remembered something his mother had told him a long time ago.

"Well, we do have one," Fenrir started slowly, "But it's more like a creed if anything. A law we all know as absolute truth and hold deep within our… well, not-souls."

"What is it." The young redhead asked, eyes alight with fascination.

Fenrir closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, Ruby was taken aback by the slight reddish tinge that swirled within the dark navy of his irises.

" **PAH HLUTR FEN DEYJA."**

Ruby shuddered slightly as the deep, gravelly tones of the Grimmspeech seemed to reverberate within her ribcage.

"And, that means?"

"All things must die." Fenrir spoke gravely.

" _Huh, I don't know why I found that surprising. Was I really expecting a happy saying?"_

"It sounds morbid, and it is." Fenrir elaborated, noticing the dour expression on Ruby's face, "But we see it as simply a truth of the world, an inarguable fact. Everything has its time, and everything dies."

While she couldn't exactly argue the logic, she still felt it was a bit too morose and sombre for her liking.

"All except the Grimm." She refuted, expecting the Grimm to agree with her and boast about how his species were ageless, able to live for hundreds, if not thousands of years and only grow stronger with time.

Instead, what she got was the Grimm continuing to stare at her seriously.

"Time cannot kill us," Fenrir said, "Disease cannot kill us. But as you Humans have proven over the countless millennia, we can still die. So the rule applies to us as well."

Ruby fidgeted nervously for a second, before swallowing the last piece of her slice and gathering her nerve to ask her next question.

"Is that the Grimm's duty?" She almost whispered, "To make sure all things die."

Fenrir's mouth opened slightly in surprise, but he quickly shut it and busied himself b cutting up another slice and offering it to the young Huntress.

"The duty of the Grimm is to protect Remnant." He stated simply, "To defend her from all who would seek to destroy her, or disrupt the balance of nature."

Ruby looked up and stared into Fenrir's eyes. Eyes that were as dark and deep as the sea stared right back at her.

" _He means us, Humans."_ She realised, _"But we're not that bad… are we?"_

Thinking she didn't really like this topic of conversation; Ruby accepted the offered cake slice and took small nibbles.

"That's quite a big duty." She remarked, trying to lighten the mood.

Thankfully, Fenrir was equally wanting to avoid potential conflict and offered the girl a half smirk.

"It is EXHAUSTING." He exclaimed with an exaggerated gesture of his arms, "Now that I've had some time to think about it, this place really has been a very bizarre vacation for me."

That got a full-on laugh from the Reaper and Fenrir was happy to see the mood of the room had been lifted.

"Sooooo," Ruby drawled, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, "What was it like, having Yang as your cooking partner?"

Finding this a topic he was much more willing to discuss; Fenrir happily began to detail the events of the previous night. As time went on, the two teens found themselves completely relaxed in each other's company, talking about whatever topic sprang to mind and neither paying any mind to the days transition to night.

The two's highlights were whenever they could get the other to laugh. Ruby felt especially proud whenever she was able to draw a hearty chuckle from the Grimm, knowing that she'd done it without having to resort to one of her sisters terrible puns.

All the while, the two were blissfully unaware of a pair of golden eyes observing them from the doorway.

"So as it turns out, Yang does indeed carry around a piece of string just in case an opportunity for a rope pun shows itself."

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like something she would do." Ruby exclaimed with a giggle.

Looking down, Ruby realised that half the cake had remained uneaten, and she didn't think she could eat another bite.

"Uhh, I'm full." She proclaimed whilst patting her belly, "Think I'll save the rest for later. Is that alright with you Fenny… Fenny?"

Looking up, Ruby was confused to see the Beowolf looking suddenly really tired. His eyelids were drooping, his hand was tightly gripping the edge of the table as his legs wobbled beneath him.

"I… I'm fine Ruby, "Fenrir slurred, swaying slightly, "Just… drained all of a sudden…"

" _And there's the crash,"_ The soft voice echoed happily in his head, _"I suggest you make you way over to the couch, you have about seven seconds before you lose consciousness."_

"tell Yang…" Fenrir said as he made his way over to the couch, Ruby watching on helplessly, "Her slice… is in… the fridge… when… she… waaaaaaaaaaaaaa…."

And with that, Fenrir collapsed against the couch and fell dead asleep.

Dashing over to his side, Ruby couldn't help but shake her head ruefully at the sight of Fenrir's peacefully sleeping face.

" _Well, I suppose that's what you get for bouncing off the walls all day long."_

Chuckling quietly to herself, Ruby made to exit the break room and let Fenrir enjoy his nap. Just before she left however, an idea struck her. As quickly and quietly as she could, Ruby cut off a very thin slice of the cheesecake, put it on a plate and set it down on the coffee table next to the slumbering beast.

" _I know you said you didn't want any, but I think you've earned this."_

Satisfied with her work, Ruby dashed back to the doorway and shut off the lights, allowing Fenrir to sleep in darkness, undisturbed by the rest of the world.

" _Sweet dreams Fenny."_

 **A/N: And it is done, took a little longer than I would have liked and for that I apologise but it's here now. So yeah, in case it still isn't obvious, this story is going to be a Fenrir/Ruby ship. A ship that I am tentatively calling 'Night sky'. Because Fenrir's colour scheme is reminiscent of the night sky and Ruby's eyes are silver like the moon and stars.**

 **Another thing, the wells of negative energy are finally explained. To put it in basic terms, if Fenrir says the right things, he becomes a walking anti-depressant, and the negative energy becomes like an energy drink to him.**

 **As always, let me know your thoughts in your reviews and I will see you in the next chapter. Take care.**

 **Next time: The red hand return, and Fenrir can't catch a break.**


	32. Chapter 32: The Red Hand rises

**A/N: Time for a more action-oriented chapter as we re-join the Red Hand and the looming threat they pose. I won't prattle on; I'll simply say enjoy the chapter!**

 **Also, in response to all the reviewers mentioning various gripes with grammar and punctuation, I am now going back and re-editing the first ten chapters. No serious story changes, just pure grammar and punctuation changes. I want this story to look its best, so this is how I'm doing that.**

" _Hmm, the nights are getting more humid. Feels like summers right around the corner."_

Jade gazed out of her single, dirty window, the only source of natural light in her cramped apartment. The sky was painted orange and purple as the last few slivers of sunlight disappeared beneath the high-rise buildings that took up most of the scenery outside the Deer-Faunus's window.

The street Jade lived on was sparsely populated, nestled in the lowest part of the agricultural district of Vale. Far below her, the cracked and litter-covered streets were barren of people, the few people who lived in this area already tucked away into their meagre homes.

This whole area stood in stark contrast to the rest of the city of Vale. Most of the bustling kingdom was thriving in both architecture and economy, whereas in this area, most of the buildings were condemned, slated for a demolition crew that would seemingly never arrive.

It was a dump, plain and simple. But for Jade, it was the only place she could afford to live, and even then her days were numbered if she couldn't find a new job.

Over the past few weeks, the young woman had been trawling all across Vale, desperately searching for any place that would take her on full-time. But she was sadly lost amongst a sea of dozens of other applicants, many of whom had far much more to offer than she did.

And for at least half of the places she went to, the bosses only had to take one look at the pair of antlers on her head, before she was coldly thrown out the door.

At her lowest point, she'd gotten dangerously close to sawing off the accursed things. She couldn't go through with it, and ended up chucking the tool far away from her before curling up into a ball and sobbing the whole night through.

That had been a few days ago, and she'd calmed down since then. Now as she looked across the city, she felt only a dull apathy as she resigned herself to the fact that she would just have to keep looking for a job tomorrow.

" _Well, I'm not getting anything done by just staring out a window."_ The girl lamented, _"Better turn in now so I can get up early tomorrow."_

Letting out a sigh so deep it completely emptied her lungs; Jade took a few small steps forward and prepared to draw her curtains closed so she could instantly flop down onto her lumpy mattress and endure another uncomfortable sleep.

Before she could do that, the silence was suddenly broken by the sounds of a man shouting at the top of his lungs.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME-AAARRRGH!"

Looking down, Jade was greeted by a sight that stopped her heart and froze her limbs. Quickly ducking under her windowsill, Jade peered up and watched the nightmarish scene play out right at the foot of her building.

Rostig Trotter, an old Boar Faunus who could often be seen sitting up against the wall of Jade's building, was writhing on the ground as electricity coursed through his body. From the shadows cast by the buildings, a bunch of hooded figures wearing red masks in the shapes of skulls circled the downed Faunus.

" _The Red Hand!"_

Leading the group was a large, dark-skinned male with spiky, jet-black hair on the top of his head, the sides and back of his head shaved. In his hand was a large black and silver club that he was pointing straight at Rostig. Squinting, Jade could see a yellow Dust crystal sitting at the top of the club, sparking in a way that indicated it had just been used. His dark brown eyes were trained fully on the quivering form of the older man on the floor.

Looking up, Jade could see she wasn't the only one who'd noticed the commotion. The girl could make out the sillohuetes of men and women watching from their windows, some of them on their phones trying to contact the police, others immediately closing their blinds and turning off their lights. No one dared to try and stop what was going on, the weapons the masked figures were carrying acting as effective deterrents against any outside interruptions.

"You done squealing piggy?"

A new figure appeared amidst the crowd of hooded figures, the skin-tight, dark blue garb the newcomer wore instantly revealing that this person was a woman. Removing her hood revealed a shock of electric blue hair cut short and messy, and a pair of eyes that were different colours, one blue, the other orange, and both glinting with deranged malice.

"You think struggling's gonna help you any?" She asked, taking casual strides toward the downed man, "Even if someone heard 'ya, who would come to the rescue of Faunus trash like you?"

Raising his head, Rostig tried his best to glare at the girl through his pained grimace, as all the while the masked men jeered and shook their weapons at him.

"You… You're not gonna get away with this." He groaned, "Someone'll stop you… just you wait."

Instead of appearing intimidated, the woman just cackled maniacally, clutching her sides as the large man next to her curled his lips up in disgust.

"Oh wow! If I had a Lien for every time I've heard that line." The woman exclaimed before her face quickly changed to a more serious expression, "Okay, I'm bored now, get him boys."

Some of the masked men started to move forward to restrain the older man. In a sudden burst of energy, Rostig got back to his feet and tried to make a run for it. It was in vain as the large man just shot another electric bolt from his club at the fleeing Faunus. Rostig instantly fell to the floor, spasming in pain as the electricity surged through his body. The man delivered a kick to Rostig's ribs that left the Faunus sprawled out on the ground.

"Faunus scum." The man sneered, looking down at the old man with immense contempt.

"Hey! Focus Coal!" The woman piped up, snapping her fingers in the man named Coal's face, "We can't use him if he's dead. Someone pick him up!"

Backing off, the pair watched as the Red Hand goons hoisted up the panting Boar Faunus. As quickly as they had arrived, the masked figures disappeared back into the shadows, the woman and Coal following not long after. The silence that followed their absence was deafening to Jade.

Taking a step back from her windowsill, Jade held a hand to her chest to try and slow her frantically beating heart. Her mind was still trying to process what she had just seen long after the gang of masked criminals had left. By the time she had calmed down, a police car had arrived and was now performing a search of the area.

" _They won't find anything,"_ The young woman thought hopelessly, _"Those monsters are already long gone."_

Filled with despair, Jade could only stare up at the ceiling and wallow in the fact that there was nothing she could do for her friend. She'd spoken to the homeless man on multiple occasions and had a great amount of respect for him, despite his low position in life. Whenever she'd come home stressed from her job, he had been there to lend an ear and provide words of encouragement.

And now, that man had been taken by evil people who would no doubt torture or maybe even kill him, and there was nothing Jade could do to help him.

A sudden glint of light struck Jade in the eye and she turned to find the source. The source as it turned out, was from a small pile of Lien sitting on her slightly rotting coffee table. At the sight of the small stash of funds, Jade's eyes lit up with renewed vigour as she came up with an idea.

" _Fenrir!"_

She couldn't do anything to help the old man, but Fenrir had already dealt with the Red Hand once already. She had seen on the news how the Wolf Faunus had been kidnapped by the Red Hand, only to trash their base and free all the Faunus captured there. While she had found it weird how the news failed to mention his name, there was no mistaking that mop of black and blue hair or that faded leather jacket.

It was a long shot, but Jade couldn't just sit back and do nothing as her friend was carted off to who knows where. With her goal clear in her mind, Jade began making preparations for tomorrow, staying up hours after the moon had risen to take residence in the sky.

" _Just hold on a little longer Rostig, I'm gonna help you somehow!"_

…

Ozpin took a deep inhale as he stood out on his office balcony, overlooking the rest of the academy below in the early morning sun.

" _Lovely day today."_ Ozpin commented to himself, letting a lazy smile cross his tired face, _"Makes me wish I could go down to the fields and read a book under the shelter of a tree."_

Sadly, the Headmaster could not be afforded such a luxury today. There was still a great deal of work to be done, even if it was the weekend. Taking just a few more minutes of peace for himself, Ozpin eventually decided to put an end to his time of relaxation and returned to his desk.

Said desk was currently straining under the latest pile of paperwork that had been haphazardly discarded upon it earlier, most of it typical for a highly esteemed educational institution such as Beacon, though others were more private, meant for Ozpin's eyes only. These documents he would keep secured in his own study.

Looking over one such report, Ozpin's brow creased heavily as he read the text upon it, drawing out a weary sigh from the man.

" _Her condition still has not improved."_ He thought to himself, _"At this rate, the likelihood of her recovering is almost nil. We may have to…"_

Ozpin was brought out of his troubled thoughts by the sound of his intercom buzzing. Welcoming the distraction, Ozpin promptly pressed the small button on his desk and spoke into the microphone.

"This is Ozpin." He stated professionally.

"Ah, Ozpin, glad I could reach you." The rapid fire speech pattern of professor Oobleck greeted the Headmasters ears.

"Bartholomew, how can I help you?" Ozpin asked in a more relaxed manner, now that he knew who he was speaking with.

"Terribly sorry to bother you Oz, but we have a situation down at the Landing bay." Oobleck said, getting straight to the point, "A civilian made her way on board one of the airships and is now requesting to speak to a student, quite vehemently I might add."

" _Hmm, well that's certainly unusual. We don't often get members of the public coming all the way up here. And why did security let her onboard I wonder?"_

"Who is this student she wishes to speak with?" Ozpin asked after a moment of thought.

"That's the most intriguing part," Oobleck responded, "She wishes to speak to Fenrir Lupus!"

Before, Ozpin was merely curious, now his attention was fully on this mystery arrival. How could she possibly know the disguised Beowolf, and what did she want with him.

" _For someone who claims to despise Humanity, you certainly seem to have made quite a number of Human acquaintances Fenrir."_ The grey-haired man remarked.

Taking a moment to plan out his next move, Ozpin eventually came to a decision and leaned back down towards the microphone.

"Please bring her up to my office, there's some questions I'd like to ask her about her intentions for coming all the way up here." The man instructed, "Once you've done that, would you please fetch Mr Lupus and bring him up here as well. This will no doubt be of great interest to him as well."

"Right away Ozpin!" Was Oobleck's quick reply before the communication between the two cut off.

Sighing quietly, Ozpin quickly drew himself up and started tidying up his desk in preparation for his unexpected guest.

" _Well, it's not like this is going anywhere."_ Ozpin reasoned to himself, _"It can wait, this far more interesting."_

…

" _What I wouldn't give for you to just disappear right now!"_

The mighty Alpha Beowolf of Beacon was currently gnawing on the end of his pencil, irritation and boredom creasing his features as his tail swatted the air behind him. He was currently at his desk, glaring holes into a piece of calculus homework that was spread out on the hardwood surface. It seemed lately; the professors had been giving the first-year students more work than they had been previously.

According to Weiss, this was in preparation for something called 'Midterm exams' coming up soon. Fenrir didn't quite get how exams were supposed to help them become better fighters, but it at least give Fenrir a timeframe of how long a term lasted at Beacon academy.

" _We're approaching the middle of May, I started maybe a week or two after everyone else, so that puts the start of the term at around the beginning of April. Knowing this, I'm guessing the first term will end… Ummmm, end of June, beginning of July possibly."_

After figuring all that out, Fenrir quickly moved on to figuring out just how many terms there were in a year. If they were all around the same length, he felt it reasonable to guess there were at minimum, three terms in a year.

" _And four years in total I'll be allowed to stay here, and then… and then what?!"_

The Alpha furiously rubbed the sides of his head as his mind had wandered far off topic and had now strayed on something he really didn't want to dwell on. Shaking his head, the Demon brought his eyesight back down to the small pile of papers in front of him, focusing intently on the jumble of letters and numbers that were on it.

" _Stop thinking about things that are still far off. Focus on the here and now."_ Fenrir reasoned to himself.

" _Four years will go by faster than you think little wolf."_

The soft voice's measured words drew out a groan from the tired Grimm who promptly dropped his head onto the desk. He most likely would have stayed that way for the rest of the day, had it not been for a sudden bumping against his ankle.

Peering underneath his desk, Fenrir quirked an eyebrow at the sight of his Roomba colliding with his foot, reversing, and then bashing into his leg over and over again.

"I'm sorry, am I in your way?" Fenrir asked facetiously.

Receiving no reply, the Grimm rolled his eyes and lifted his boots up off the floor, allowing the slightly dented machine to carry on its merry way, cleaning his room whilst he worked.

"Bloody machine." Fenrir mumbled, still smiling slightly indicating he wasn't really that annoyed.

Whilst the machine continued to vacuum up the dust that accumulated in the Beowolf's room, Fenrir resumed his work at a laboured pace. He didn't get far as a moment later, his door suddenly burst open and a green blur came whizzing inside his room.

"Mr Lupus!"

"GAAAAHHH!"

The sudden explosion of noise startled the Grimm so much, that he ended up pitching his pencil at the intruder, his panicked mind thinking he was being ambushed by one of the many many students that wanted him dead.

Thankfully, Oobleck had extraordinarily high reflexes and he deftly caught the thrown pencil in-between his fingers. Fenrir stared at the green-haired professor in confusion, before his face quickly morphed into an annoyed frown.

"Can you not just barge into my room like that!" Fenrir growled angrily.

"Why? Were you expecting someone?" Oobleck asked coyly.

Fenrir's only response was to sneer at the man and then fold his arms to show he was far from amused. The history professor took a cursory glance at the Grimm's room, before drawing himself up and addressing the impatiently waiting Alpha.

"Professor Ozpin instructed me to bring you up to his office, it would seem you have a visitor. Best not keep him waiting, come along Mr Lupus!"

Before Fenrir could even think about asking a question, Oobleck had already retreated out of Fenrir's room and had zipped off, seemingly expecting the Grimm to just blindly follow him.

" _A… visitor?"_ Fenrir wondered perplexingly, _"From out of Beacon? But who? Phthalo? Jade? Not Grendel, surely to Oum."_

"Mr Lupus!" Oobleck called out, having reappeared in Fenrir's doorway, "Quickly now, we don't have all day!"

Again, Fenrir made to open his mouth, but the effort was wasted when the Huntsman disappeared again. Fenrir visibly shook in barely contained rage, imaging a delightful selection of ways he could make the history teacher stay put permanently. Impaling his feet with nails was his favourite one.

Finished with his daydreaming, Fenrir let out a puff of air and started to make his way out of the cobbled together bedroom.

" _Might as well see what this is all about."_

Just before he exited, Fenrir turned to look down at the small machine that now rested in the middle of the room.

"Watch the place while I'm out." Was his command to the machine before he disappeared from sight.

The Roomba gave no noise to show it had heard the Grimm, and it instead simply turned to move under Fenrir's bed before putting itself into sleep mode.

And there it would stay until it's master returned.

…

Fenrir fidgeted restlessly as the elevator gradually ascended to the top of the tower that housed Ozpin's office. To the side of him, Oobleck stood professionally, seemingly oblivious to the Grimm's discomfort. No matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out who it was that was asking to see him, and for what reason.

" _I have a bad feeling, that this day's about to get a lot more exhausting for me."_

Quicker than the Alpha would have liked, the elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened up to the interior of the Headmasters office. Oobleck gave the Beowolf teen a nod as Fenrir exited the elevator, before pressing a button and the elevator doors closed shut.

Taking quick strides, Fenrir was greeted by the sight of Ozpin standing behind his chair, cane in hand as always. The second person, standing on the other side of the desk, turned at the sound of the elevator doors opening. At the sight of Fenrir, Jade Doe took quick steps towards the stunned Grimm.

"Fenrir!"

"J-Jade?!"

Fenrir could only blink at the sight of the antlered, former café worker. His brain scrambled hopelessly to figure out why she would be here of all places. Ozpin, meanwhile, was carefully watching the two's reactions to each other. Jade seemed happy to see the Grimm, and Fenrir appeared stunned but not displaying any hostile signals.

"W-why are you here?" Fenrir eventually asked after struggling to get the words out.

Jade fidgeted nervously, going so far as to turn back towards the grey-haired man, as if looking for confirmation. When the older man gave a slight inclination of his head, Jade took a deep breath in and looked up at Fenrir with shimmering green eyes.

"I need your help Fenrir… the Red Hand kidnapped a friend of mine."

At the mention of the words 'Red Hand', Fenrir's entire countenance changed from alarmed, to stern, his arms characteristically folding across his chest as his tail swished behind him slowly.

"What do you mean?" Was Fenrir's next question to the older girl.

And so, Jade began recounting the events of last night to the Wolf, something she'd already had to do with the headmaster. Ozpin, for his part, remained silent and watched the Grimm's reactions carefully. Conflict was the main emotion that was discernible on the Wolf Faunus's face, he was clearly troubled by the resurfacing of the Red Hand, and Ozpin didn't doubt for a second that the Grimm was eager to reclaim some of his lost pride and defeat the one named Grar Grendelson.

At the same time, he could see hesitation and confusion warring with his usual instinct to dive head-first into conflict.

"It must have been less than an hour before the police gave up and left the area," Jade began finishing up her story as Fenrir continued to look unsure, "I couldn't just do nothing… not after seeing Rostig get captured right in front of me. Please Fenrir, you've got to help me!"

Fenrir, still choosing to be silent, looked over towards Ozpin. The older man gave nothing away by either his face or body language, the Beowolf couldn't even get a read on his emotional state. The man seemed to be simply waiting, giving Fenrir no choice but to take the next step in this conversation.

"…Why me?" Was Fenrir's first words since Jade's explanation begun, "Why not go to a Huntsman or Huntress, someone who's qualified to deal with this?"

Jade appeared crestfallen. She'd been expecting the Wolf teen to be a lot more agreeable to her request. From what little she'd seen, he seemed like he could handle himself in a fight, especially with that monster strength of his.

"There aren't any Huntsmen in my area." Jade expressed earnestly, "I wouldn't know where to go looking for one, and I don't have enough Lien to pay one even if I did find one… you were the first person I could think of."

"She would have had difficulty finding one no matter where she looked." Ozpin finally spoke up, startling Fenrir slightly, "Most of the local Huntsmen have been called out to investigate disturbances outside of the Kingdoms walls. Apparently White Fang soldiers have been spotted roaming around the Kingdoms fringes, amassing together for as yet unknown reasons."

Fenrir felt a sudden spark of negative energy emanate from the Deer-Faunus as she turned to hide her face, letting her lips curl up into a disgusted sneer.

"Of course the White Fang are more important to you." She whispered.

Fenrir gave a troubled frown, but otherwise said nothing.

" _I keep hearing about this White Fang. When all this is over, I need to sit down and find out all I can about them."_

"On top of that," Ozpin continued, "Grimm numbers have risen in recent weeks, particularly in the Emerald forest, causing more of our resources to be directed into containing the sudden increase in the Grimm's population. Something to do with heightened negativity in the kingdom, or so I'm told."

Ozpin gave Fenrir a very pointed look, and the Grimm suddenly found a new interest in the floor, his ears flat against the top of his head.

" _Ohhhh, that's me isn't it? Well more accurately, everyone's reaction to me."_

Fenrir really should have predicted something like this would happen. All of Beacon knew what he really was, sometimes the negative energy he'd get chucked his way would be so great, it would make him nauseous, so he could only imagine what it was doing to the rest of his kin who were outside the kingdoms walls.

"I saw you," Jade suddenly piped up, bringing Fenrir's and Ozpin's attention back to her, "On the news, when all those missing Faunus were rescued. You were there, in the background. I know you can fight, so I guessed you're probably the one who busted all those people out in the first place, right?"

Fenrir winced at that, hoping that his involvement in that affair with the Red Hand had been kept quiet. But clearly, Jade had figured out that he'd had a role in the recovery of the Faunus who were probably days away from being sold into slavery.

"They captured me; I was just trying to free myself." Fenrir explained hastily, "And I didn't exactly free them on my own…"

Fenrir's attempting to make up excuses was cut short when Jade leaned forward and clasped the Grimm's hands in her own, forcing him to look down at her pleading, green eyes.

"Please Fenrir." She begged quietly, "I don't know what else to do. I can't fight worth a damn and you've faced the Red Hand before. Please, I can't just let them take Rostig, or Oum knows how many more Faunus they've already taken."

And there it was again, that pull in the Alpha's mind, the compulsion given to him by Ruby's Aura that imbued within him a need to help those who could not help themselves. He remembered his brief encounter with the old man on the street near Jade's residence, how it had left him with a hollow feeling in his chest afterwards, to see this man so coldly chucked aside by a society that deemed itself superior to him and those like him.

And he'd seen the conditions those captured by the Red Hand were placed in, forced to endure. Even Grimm weren't so Heartless as to torture their victims for days on end. They'd just kill you and that would be the end of it, none of this slavery garbage.

" _I… I want to help… but…"_

Tearing his eyes away from Jade, Fenrir looked towards the silent Headmaster, giving him a pleading look of his own.

Ozpin adjusted his glasses coolly, obscuring his eyes behind the glare of the sun filtering in from the floor-to-ceiling windows. Ozpin took careful steps forward as he made sure he was heard by the both of them. He knew that he would no doubt receive quite a bit of backlash for what he was about to do from his colleagues. But, he justified to himself that in this case, the ends would justify the means.

And those ends? To turn the Grimmborn even more towards the light. More than that, the Red Hand were far too much of an unknown to be ignored. All Ozpin knew about them was the name of their leader and what their goal was. Unlike the White Fang, whose goal was at least somewhat noble [Though he took great exception to their methods], this new faction was just built on a foundation of short-sighted cruelty and malice. They had to be stopped, quickly.

"Firstly, I hope you realise that what you are asking is highly irregular Ms Doe. Under normal circumstances, I would not allow it. I understand your fervour and your desire to rescue your friend, but despite Fenrir's substantial potential as a fighter, he is still only a first-year student, we do not allow our students here to attend solo missions unsupervised until their second or third years."

Jade felt her hopes crumble at the man's sharp words. Fenrir, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes as he caught on more to what Ozpin was saying.

"' _Under normal circumstances'? What are you planning old man?"_

"However…" Ozpin paused for effect, a tiny smile that spoke of great mischief, "As this little talk has carried on, I've just remembered something. Mr Lupus… you never went through initiation like the other first-years did you? Being a late entry and all."

The Grimm's eyes widened as he knew what Ozpin was talking about, and what he was implying. Ruby had told him a while ago, about why herself and her future team had been in the Emerald forest that fateful day. The day that forever changed Fenrir from just a normal Alpha Beowolf, to the leather-wearing, grouchy, all-around tired Wolf Faunus that now stood in Ozpin's office.

Initiation, essentially a trial to see if those wishing to enter Beacon could make the cut. Fenrir hadn't been a part of that for obvious reasons, though those reasons weren't so obvious to the third member of this little meeting.

"Perhaps I could use this as a chance for you to have your own initiation, I wonder…" Ozpin trailed off, glancing up at the clock hanging off the wall.

Having already come to his decision, Ozpin gave a single nod and addressed the waiting Grimm with a serious expression.

"If you leave right away, you should be able to make into the centre of Vale by noon." Ozpin instructed, "From there, I will give you six hours. Six hours to find Ms Doe's missing friend and retrieve him. You have your weapons, and you know how to your Aura, so I'm confident you'll succeed. However, do note that if you fail, I will have no choice but to ask you to leave the academy."

"…"

"…"

" _WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT!"_

Fenrir gaped like a fish at the last part of Ozpin's sentence, hardly believing that the older man could be serious given how casually he'd said it. Before Fenrir could even try to argue, Ozpin had moved on to address Jade.

"Ms Doe, in the highly unlikely event that Mr Lupus should fail, I'll send some of my best Huntsmen and Huntresses to go out and find your friend. On that, you have my word."

Jade appeared uncertain, she hadn't been anticipating putting Fenrir's future education in jeopardy, and was now seriously considering dropping the whole thing for the Wolf boys sake. Before she could however, Ozpin placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a warm, gentle smile.

"But as I already said, I'm entirely confident Mr Lupus will succeed in this task. I'm not exaggerating when I say he has a great deal of potential. I wish to see that potential grow, so that he might one day be the great warrior he dreams of becoming."

" _Do I just get no say in any of this Ozpin!"_ Fenrir demanded internally, more than a little annoyed at how this decision had been completely taken out of his hands.

" _Oh, be fair Fenrir."_ The soft voice chimed, _"Would you have really said no after hearing Jade's plea?"_

At that moment, Fenrir registered that Ozpin and Jade were both looking at him, Ozpin patiently reserved, Jade hopeful and eager. At the sight of both of them, Fenrir could only sigh, he really had made his decision even before Ozpin had given him the ultimatum.

As much as it irritated him, he couldn't just let those Red Hand punks continue doing what they were doing. His mind just could not condone what was happening to those Faunus, even though three months ago, he wouldn't have even blinked at the revelation that some parts of Humanity were treated as inferior to others.

So, with a heavy sigh and a slump of his shoulders, Fenrir delivered his answer.

"Alright, fine." He grumbled, "I'll do it."

The look Jade gave him when he finally agreed to help was almost brighter than the stars at night. Ozpin also gave a small smile and nod to the Alpha. With a mission given, the Headmaster retreated back to his desk and took a seat.

"Splendid." Ozpin exclaimed, "Well Mr Lupus, Ms Jade, you'd both best not waste any time. Grab your weapons from you locker and head straight to the launchpad. Best of luck Mr Lupus."

With the older man's dismissal, Fenrir turned on his heel and stamped his way back to the elevator, Jade right on his heels. The Grimm gave one last look to the man who appeared to now be going through his scroll, before the doors slid shut and the metal box began its gradual descent downwards.

" _Well, I suppose this is a better use of my time than just studying."_ Fenrir thought to himself as he cracked his knuckles and fought to keep a nasty grin off his face, _"Certainly more fun, that's for sure."_

As the elevator carried on downwards, Jade turned towards her Wolf Faunus friend and gave him a sympathetic smile.

"Hey," She said quietly, "Thanks again for doing this for me. I just wish I could do more, but like I said, I can't fight. I think the last time I did was back in Grade school and I lost."

While Fenrir had no idea what a 'Grade school' was, he did latch onto the fact that Jade seemed to have this belief that she couldn't fight. Fenrir came from a species that was literally born and bred in combat, their lives a frantic haze, moving from one battle to the next. And yet, here were the Humans, a race of people where most of them never had to fight a serious battle in their lives.

It just didn't seem logical to the Beowolf.

"What makes you think you can't learn to be a fighter?" He asked the girl next to him.

Jade turned and blinked at the boy, seeing from his eyes that he was asking a serious question. Letting out a humourless laugh, Jade turned to stare at the metal wall in front of them.

"I mean, I guess I could. But I doubt I'd ever get as strong as you. I'm just a failed waitress with a pair of antlers on her head."

Fenrir just shook his head as Jade continued to put herself down. To the Grimm, Jaune stood as a testament to the fact that even someone who didn't even know how Aura worked could become a serious fighting force if they applied themselves. It wasn't about having a weak body, it all came down to whether or not you had a weak will.

"Do you think I started this way?" Fenrir asked, quirking his eyebrow up in amusement, "I was weak once too, and as much as it pains me, like REALLY pains me to admit, there are plenty of other people at just this academy that are much stronger than I am. But that's why I train, so I can get stronger. So I'm always improving, until I get to the day where I'm the strongest fighter in this whole Academy."

Fenrir blinked as a sudden realisation came to him at the end of that line.

" _Huh… I suppose that could be my goal for the moment."_ Fenrir decided, reminded of the fact that he really didn't know what he was doing with his life now that he'd been stuffed inside this Human skin-sui.

" _But surely you want more of your life than just power for powers sake?"_ The soft voice questioned, making the Grimm instantly frown.

While Fenrir huffed, Jade appeared to be deep in thought. She'd never given much thought to the idea for learning to become a better fighter. She'd certainly never felt inclined to become a Huntress or join the military or anything like that.

"You really think I could learn to fight?" She said, looking at the Wolf Faunus, curiously optimistic.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Fenrir turned slightly to address the antlered girl.

"All I'll say is that, if it were me, I wouldn't want other people fighting my battles for me." He said simply, clenching his fist in front of himself, "And I would NEVER let a Human think they could look down on me, or think I'm weak and let them get away with it. That's what the Red Hand want to do… along with countless other Humans I've met."

Fenrir's eyes burned with fresh anger, his lips twisting into a malefic grin as he revelled in the fact that in a few hours' time he'd get to unleash his rage against some miserable Humans and not suffer any reprimands from the likes of Goodwitch or Ozpin.

Jade meanwhile, seemed to have a fire stoked beneath her as her own eyes began to glow with a new resolve. Fenrir was right, the Humans would always look down on their kind, never giving them a chance to gain an equal footing with them. Fenrir was the type of guy who would fight back, tooth-and-nail against that kind of oppression, she could see that just from the way he held himself.

Defiant, solid, daring anyone to try and strike him down. It was why she had come up to him today.

Though she hadn't expected the boy to give her a renewed spirit of rebellion. To tell her to stand up for herself and not let those high and mighty Humans push her around.

" _Maybe… Maybe I should start trying to find ways to get stronger myself."_ Jade pondered, holding her head up just a little bit higher as she felt her confidence grow slightly.

"I'm looking forward to this." Fenrir remarked off-handedly.

Jade chuckled quietly as she could see the Wolf's eyes almost twinkle with eagerness, the blue orbs staring straight ahead as the elevator doors opened up to reveal the ground floor of Ozpin's tower.

"Yeah… So am I."

….

Fenrir had retrieved his Gauntlets in record time, putting the final adjustments on the straps just as he was taking his first steps aboard the Airship that would take him and Jade down into Vale. Jade marvelled at seeing Fenrir's weapons up close for the first time, but then her wonder quickly gave way to mirth when Fenrir clutched his stomach and groaned upon the ship taking off.

"I didn't think you'd suffer from motion-sickness." She pointed out when the Alpha glared up at her finding humour at his expense.

"Ugh, I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Fenrir said, more to himself as the contents of his stomach finally settled down and he took a seat by the window.

When he was up in the air, he was fine. It was just the initial take-off and landing that he had problems with. Also looking straight down… yeah, that wasn't fun.

" _Don't know how those feather-head Nevermores do this every day."_

The trip was mostly spent in silence, Jade too busy fretting over her still missing friend to make idle conversation, and Fenrir just not being much of a talker. Though, he did ask one thing.

"Have you found a new job yet?"

Jade's expression told him all he needed to know on that front.

"Don't give up, you'll find something." He assured her before she'd even said a word.

Jade only gave a sad smile before nodding her head, not really believing the dark-haired boys words but appreciating the sentiment all the same.

Soon after that brief conversation, the Airship landed, causing Fenrir's stomach to do another flip, before he finally got up and walked off the ship. The sky was perfectly blue today, and the heat from the sun was already starting to make Fenrir tug at his sweatshirt.

"You know, you could just take the jacket off." Jade suggested with an amused expression.

Fenrir took a look at his signature piece of clothing, and then looked at Jade with an unamused frown.

"I'm not doing that." Was his only reply before he turned back and carried on walking forwards.

" _Leatherheads."_ Jade thought to herself, chuckling quietly so as to not catch the Grimm's attention.

As the two made their way towards Jade's apartment, the girl noticed how Fenrir's head was constantly moving. Moving from one side of the street to the other, Fenrir's eyes and ears were constantly swivelling in different directions. The reason why he was doing this was so he could put his sixth sense to work. The Red Hand were a group formed from malign intent, so that was bound to stand out on the Beowolf's inbuilt radar.

There was just one problem. Vale was a big city. A crowded, packed-in city with a lot of people. In such a large place, lingering negative energy hung all over the damn place. Frustration, impatience, annoyance, entitlement, it all stunk up the whole city. It was like trying to look for someone through a window made of frosted glass.

Too many signals, muddling Fenrir's vision to the point where trying to focus on one target was next to impossible.

" _I'll need to get closer to wherever Rostig's being kept to get a better signal."_

Returning back to the world around him, Fenrir took note of how the scenery of the city gradually changed as he and Jade got closer and closer to her apartment. The buildings became more decrepit, the people more withdrawn, the streets less modern and high-tech.

He'd looked at a map of Vale, he knew this was a relatively small part of the city, the rest of it being in much better condition. But even so, the fact that this place existed at all, made Fenrir's lips curl in disgust.

" _All this… this segregation, separation of classes based not on ability but on wealth. It's all so backwards!"_

A quick look at his scroll told Fenrir that Ozpin's prediction had been correct. It was almost dead-on noon by the time the Wolf and the Deer arrived at the street where Jade lived.

"Well, here we are." Jade said, more to herself as she gripped the side of her arm, looking around uneasily.

Taking a slow breath out, Fenrir rolled his head back and cracked his neck, his mouth set in a firm line as he focused on what he needed to do.

" _Alright, six hours. Let the hunt begin."_

"Where did you see Rostig get taken?"

Jade blinked, taken aback slightly at how Fenrir's entire persona had switched to one that almost seemed professional, were it not for the scowl he wore.

"Oh, uh, it was over there." Jade answered, pointing a finger towards the street corner opposite her apartment building.

Fenrir walked towards the place Jade had pointed out. Upon getting closer to the corner, Fenrir started to get a taste of the lingering malice that still hung in the air. Shutting his eyes, Fenrir let himself focus entirely on the charged emotions surrounding this place.

" _There were…Six guys."_ Fenrir took note, his mind recreating the scene as he pieced together what had happened from the emotional afterimages left behind.

" _One of them was a woman. Rostig… was on the ground… he was terrified. Dust was used here, I can smell it, don't know what kind though."_

Opening his eyes, the Alpha looked out towards the other side of the street. He had a trace now, albeit a faint one. Wherever those Red Hand thugs had taken the old man, they seemed to have taken him further towards the outskirts of the city.

Of course, there was still the unfortunate possibility that Fenrir could lose the scent, lost amongst all the other negative emotions swirling in the air. Even now, he was focusing on not getting Rostig's terror at being kidnapped mixed up with some middle aged woman furiously demanding to speak to a manager a few blocks away.

" _I need something more tangible to lock onto."_ Fenrir thought, _"Something more than just some half-faded panic and spite. AH! I've got it!"_

"Hey Jade!" Fenrir called out, catching the girls attention, "Do you have anything that belonged to Rostig, a piece of clothing maybe?"

Jade's face scrunched up at the admittedly ludicrous sounding question. Why she would ever keep a homeless man's stuff, was a question neither of them felt bothered to answer. Instead, Jade gestured behind herself with a thumb.

"No, but you can check his spot. He was sleeping in the doorway of that condemned building over there last I checked."

Nodding, Fenrir took quick, purposeful strides towards the spot mentioned. Instantly, Fenrir's eyes were drawn to a small, water-damaged cardboard box that had a measly assortment of items nestled inside. Grabbing the first item on top, Fenrir beheld a ratty, tan-coloured scarf. It clearly belonged to the elder man, and had seen its fair share of use over however long he'd had this sad-looking thing. The Alpha grimaced as he prepared himself for what he had to do.

" _Just get it over with Fenrir."_ He told himself, _"You've done this before. Just suck it up."_

Off to the side, Jade caught sight of what Fenrir was holding and after piecing together what he was about to do, made a look of disgust similar to Fenrir's own.

"Oh, you aren't about to…" Jade trailed off.

"Afraid so." Fenrir said, before quickly bringing the scarf up to his nose and breathing in deeply.

Fenrir almost immediately gagged upon coming into contact with the aged piece of cloth. It smelled mouldy, rancid and thick with age. It highlighted just how miserable Rostig's living conditions were, that he held onto this scrap of fabric. He didn't care how much he liked his jacket; Fenrir would get rid of it in a second if it started smelling like this.

But still, the scent was definitely strong enough for Fenrir to get a clear trail to follow. Tilting his head up to the sky, Fenrir smelt the air around him, following a trail invisible to the eyes, but easily tangible to the experienced predator.

The Alpha looked in a certain direction, and nodded with satisfaction as he saw the scent trail led outwards, towards the edge of the city.

" _Makes sense."_ The Grimm thought, _"Now that they're identity is known, they'll want to stick to the shadows, away from the city centre. It's probably why they're targeting places like this. Quiet, out of the way, hardly paid attention to by the rest of the city. Perfect hunting grounds for scavengers like them."_

Now having a solid lead, Fenrir stalked towards the wall of a building, figuring he'd be able to follow the trail better and get a better layout of the land if he stayed up high. Before he set off however, he looked back towards his travelling companion who had up to this point, staring at him in a mixture of confusion and mild disgust at what he'd just had to do.

"I have a trail." He informed her, "So now I need you to remain here."

Jade's reaction was predictable, as well as tiring as she immediately tried to protest.

"WHAT!" She exclaimed, "No, I have to go with you Fenrir, I can help…"

Fenrir cut off the protesting deer Faunus with a raised hand and a level look.

"I don't have much time," He explained quickly, "You cannot fight, so if you get captured or hurt, I'll have to worry about you and Rostig. Plus, I move faster on my own, and I need to be fast now, otherwise we might lose Rostig forever."

Jade quietened upon hearing Fenrir's harsh but fair reasoning. It wasn't that Fenrir didn't want Jade to come with him, she had proven to be perfectly amicable company thus far. But the truth was, she would only endanger herself if she followed the Beowolf from this point onwards. This decision was for her benefit as well as his own.

" _How noble."_ The soft voice teased lightly, making Fenrir bite back the growl of annoyance that wanted to make its way up his throat.

"A-alright," Jade mumbled, looking down-trodden, "I'll just… stay here until you get back."

Fenrir could sense that Jade still wasn't comfortable with letting the Grimm go off by himself. Letting out a quiet sigh, Fenrir turned away from the building and put a hand on Jade's shoulder.

"I'll be back," He assured the girl, his voice rumbling deeply, "And I'll have Rostig with me, no matter what."

Deciding to give the girl one last piece of mind, Fenrir held out his scroll and instructed Jade to do the same with her own, much older and more beat up scroll.

"Call me if you see anything suspicious in the area. For all we know, the Red hand might come back to this place to see if there's anyone else they can take."

This seemed to put the girls worries at ease finally, as she looked back up at the wolf Grimm with renewed determination in her eyes as green as her namesake.

Saying all he needed to say, Fenrir spun on his heel and immediately sprinted towards the building. He hardly slowed his pace as he latched on to the side of the wall with his claws and climbed up the brick surface. In no time at all, Fenrir was standing on top of the block of flats and offered one last glance down towards Jade [Who was looking up at him with an amazed expression], before he darted off to start chasing after the scent trail.

This was a serious situation, a man had been captured along with Oum knows how many others, and if Fenrir didn't hurry, he might lose Rostig forever, carted off to be sold into slavery. But despite that, Fenrir couldn't stop the grin spreading across his face as he leapt across the rooftops of Vale.

It was like Beacon, only much bigger, with a much wider variety of levels and rooftop terrains to test himself against. At any moment he could be scaling the wall of a business tower, leaping off towards a shopping centre, somersaulting over a highway and then pivoting off the spire of a church.

It was like a massive playground, that only the Grimm could enjoy. Beacon's rooftops had started to grow stale, so this was a welcome change of pace.

For the onlookers down below, it was an odd sight that had more than a few parents concerned, and quite a lot of children amazed. Though others still, were less than impressed.

"He is going to hurt himself." One businessman said disdainfully, "And when he does, I won't help him."

" _Like I'd want your help anyway, you boring old git!"_ Fenrir thought, a sudden cheekiness seeping into his expression as he wall jumped in between two houses. His amusement melted however, when he reached the top and refocused on the negativity trail and the scent of the old man, both steadily growing stronger.

" _Speaking of unwanted help,"_ Fenrir looked up to the sky, as if expecting to miraculously see the source of that melodic voice that was always in his head, _"You need to stop seeing things that aren't there."_

" _Whatever do you mean little wolf?"_ The voice asked, sounding genuinely curious.

" _What I'm doing here, it isn't to be noble."_ The Alpha insisted, _"I'm doing this because if I don't, Ozpin will kick me out with my tail between my legs. That and… no one deserves to be treated like a slave, not even Humans."_

" _That's precisely WHY what you're doing is noble."_ Again, Fenrir could practically see the bodiless voice smiling in his head, though he had no idea how he could 'see' this.

" _Still, it is surprising just how much you are disgusted by the very idea of enslavement. Are all Grimm like this?"_

Fenrir's face became one of cold hatred, shadows covering his face as his fangs flashed in the daylight. He took slow steps forward, before leaping to his next perch.

" _For the Grimm… Death is a preferable alternative to slavery."_

…

Progress was being made at a steady rate. Occasionally, Fenrir had to go back down to ground level just to make sure he was still on the right track. The more he traversed above the city's streets, the more he was able to pick out some specific emotions that he was certain were coming from the Red Hand themselves.

Hatred, contempt, disgust. It grew stronger the more he made his way to the western end of Vale. Fenrir had long since left the Agricultural district and was now in the Industrial district. The Buildings he clambered across now were less houses for people to live in, and more like factories and warehouses. At one point, he even stumbled across the Heorot shipping warehouse he'd been imprisoned in the last time he'd tussled with the Red Hand and their dangerously powerful leader.

" _Don't think I'm quite ready to tangle with him again."_ Fenrir admitted so only he could hear, his pride bristling at the harsh truth, _"Though I'm sure I can take on his lackeys. They're nothing but fodder."_

After taking another huge leap to get across to the next building, Fenrir nearly fell out of the air when he was hit by a sudden wave of negative energy. This felt very different from the trail he was following, it was fresh, brand new, and the emotions that comprised it were different.

Grief, panic, and a tremendous amount of anguish. So great was this new emotional outburst, that Fenrir very nearly succumbed to his base instincts and smelt at the air hungrily, his eyes alternating between blue and red. Pulling himself together, Fenrir took a moment to focus on this new point of interest, his thoughts conflicting with one another.

" _Do I really have time to get side-tracked right now?"_ The Grimm wasn't really expecting an answer to the question, but he did in fact get one surprisingly.

" _Well, it is close by."_ The soft voice said in a persuasive manner, _"Besides, this could be another potential lead, just in case the negativity trail you're following goes cold."_

Agreeing with the new logic being presented to him, Fenrir decided he had plenty of time to at the very least, have a look and see what was what.

Turns out, this had been a good call to make.

Sliding down the wall of the building [His claws leaving deep grooves in the brick-work], Fenrir made a few turns through a few alleys and came out to face one of the few apartments in the area, surrounded by police cars.

A significant number of people were gathered around the outside of the building, some of them being random passers-by, but most appeared to be people who lived in the building itself, judging by the way they were standing around impatiently, some of them still in their pyjamas.

" _It's one in the afternoon, Oum above I can't even imagine being that lazy!"_

Scanning through the crowd, Fenrir quickly found the epicentre of the negativity spike. It appeared to be a small, middle-aged woman with smoky grey hair and a pair of mouse ears on her head.

" _Faunus."_ Fenrir noted, nodding grimly to himself, _"I think that makes it pretty conclusive. It's too big a coincidence to not be related to my investigation."_

Figuring the more information he had, the better his chances of finding the Red Hand's operation, Fenrir made his away across the road to the building itself. The Alpha strained his ears to pick up the conversation as quickly as possible.

"Please officer." The woman pleaded to a blond-haired officer who was trying to keep the distressed calm, "My daughter wouldn't just run away like this, she was happy here! Someone's got my baby and no one's doing anything!"

"Ma'am I give you my word," The officer said soothingly, "We're doing everything we can to determine what happened to your daughter. Right now, we don't have enough information to know for certain what happened here. So please, take a moment to catch your breath, and we'll work as quickly as we can."

" _He's got a cool head on his shoulders."_ Fenrir remarked, giving the officer an appraising nod.

Fenrir had never given much thought to Human law enforcement. The main threat to the Grimm would always be the Huntsmen and Huntresses, police and military just being Humans with smaller weapons and a modicum of power that made them only slightly better than the average civilian.

Done with his ruminations, Fenrir took purposeful strides towards the buildings entrance. Before he could ascend the steps however, a hand shot out from nowhere and blocked his path.

"Excuse me sir, this areas off-limits right now. You can't go in." A younger looking officer instructed the Alpha, doing his best to appear firm.

Fenrir was far from impressed. Narrowing his eyes, the wolf stalked up to the rookie, letting his tail sway behind him slowly. The man gulped subtly, suddenly aware of how huge Fenrir was in comparison to himself.

Before a confrontation could truly begin, a far more commanding presence got in-between the two.

"Sir, can I ask what you think you're doing?"

It was the blond haired officer who'd been talking to the mouse Faunus. On closer inspection, Fenrir noted the man had golden-brown eyes and a thin goatee that was the same shade as his hair. He could also tell that intimidation wasn't going to work on this guy, he was bigger and clearly had much more experience than the first guy who'd tried to stop him.

"… I need to get in that building." Was Fenrir's eventual reply, backing off slightly.

"Are you a resident of this tenement?" Was the officers next question, maintaining his professional attitude throughout, though Fenrir could tell he was sceptical.

"No." Fenrir said, looking back up at the dull-looking apartment, "I'm looking for the Red-Hand."

So quick was the statement Fenrir gave, it took a moment for either cop to process it. When they did, the younger one had a look like he'd just been slapped across the face, and the elder just gave a subtle frown.

"Well, I don't think you'll find them in there." He told the Beowolf, gesturing to the building with his head.

Fenrir pursed his lips to show he was unamused by the quip, before pointing at the Mouse-eared woman who was off to the side taking deep breaths.

"A Faunus was captured." He explained, "I'm on the trail of another Faunus who was… a friend of a friend of mine. I think this might be connected."

"Correlation does not equal causation. Trust me, in this line of work, you don't want to jump to conclusions." The officer advised calmly, "According to one of my colleagues, it seems like the girl just ran away from home, it happens sometimes."

Fenrir frowned, looking back up at the stone monolith in front of him. He didn't think the officer was being deceitful, but he still wanted to see for himself to be sure.

While Fenrir was distracted by the building, the officer looked down at Fenrir's arms, and the menacing gauntlets that were strapped to them.

"You a Huntsman?" He asked.

Fenrir blinked as he saw he was being addressed again, though he frowned at the question being asked of him.

"No."

"Student up at Beacon then."

It was a statement, not a question. Beacon was the only Huntsman academy in the kingdom, the rest either being combat schools or just regular schools for normal folk. Fenrir nodded in assent. While he still refused to be called a Huntsman, he did have to acknowledge that he was, for all intents and purposes, a student at the place.

"Don't recall ever seeing you round here before. You local, or from out of town?"

The Grimm was a little wary of all the questions being directed at him, but he couldn't see a way that answering truthfully would get him in trouble, so he decided to do just that.

"Yeah, I'm from… _way_ out of town."

The older man nodded as he'd already guessed as much. On this kind of job, you learned to get a read on people before they'd even opened their mouths. This young wolf Faunus before him, he instantly struck him as the type who'd already been through the ringer, and because of that, didn't take crap from anyone. There was a harshness in his eyes that spoke of a rough life. Along with that, was a constitution that spoke of fierce determination, the kind that if he didn't put his foot down now, the wolf would just charge into that building right now.

"Well, I hate to break this to you kid," The man said in a calmest manner possible, "But unless you have a valid Huntsmen's licence, I can't let you on the premises, rules are rules."

Fenrir scowled, but otherwise made no move to enter the building. He'd been given a chance to prove his worth by Ozpin, he doubted the headmaster would be thrilled to learn he'd used this opportunity to just beat up some of the kingdoms law enforcement.

" _You know,"_ The soft voice suggested, _"Ozpin might be able to lend us a hand here."_

Fenrir didn't know what the voice was talking about at first, but then it hit him a second later. Almost manically, Fenrir fumbled inside his jacket for his scroll and quickly brought up a contact number he was sure would give him all the credentials he needed.

"Well I don't have anything as fancy as a license," Fenrir muttered, sporting a wolfish grin, "But I do have this!"

Fenrir quickly brought the scroll around to show the blond-haired man. The officers eyes widened a bit when he saw the name and picture on the scroll.

"Hello? Mr Lupus?" Ozpin called out from the other side of the line, a touch of amusement indicating his surprise at being called by the normally unsocial Beowolf.

"Hello professor," Fenrir talked quickly, all too aware of the time this was wasting, "I think I've found a lead that will help me find the Red Hand faster, but I need to get past these police officers first."

For a solid minute, the line was silent, then a muffled choking sound could just be heard on the scroll's speakers. To the older man, it sounded like the Headmaster was trying to stifle a chuckle.

"…I see," Ozpin eventually replied, "Well, I suppose I might be able to do something about that. Would you mind passing me to the officer in charge."

Still grinning, Fenrir handed the device over to the Blond man, who actually stumbled in grasping the scroll before drawing himself back up.

"Um, hello professor Ozpin, sir." The man said, doing his best to keep his voice measured.

"Hello," Ozpin greeted warmly, "May I ask who I'm speaking to?"

"Sergeant Jacob Barley of the 14th precinct, sir."

Fenrir blinked as he finally heard the man's name.

" _Huh, his hair does kind of look like a field of wheat."_ The Grimm noted, getting a touch of amusement from the observation.

"Well, sergeant, would you be so kind as to inform me of the situation down there." Ozpin instructed.

"A lady called earlier today," Jacob said, "Said she thought her daughter had been kidnapped. We're searching the area right now, so far we haven't found any evidence of foul play. The other tenants of the building have all said that the last time they saw the girl was when she was entering her room, turning in for the night."

Ozpin hummed in contemplation.

"I'm assuming she was a Faunus.."

"Yes sir. That's actually why I decided to oversee this investigation personally," Jacob admitted, "I suspected the Red Hand might be involved somehow. But then again, this doesn't fit their usual M.O, they take Faunus off the streets or in quiet, out of the way areas. This section of the city is normally quite busy."

"I see…" Ozpin again, seemed to go into thought, before he spoke again, "Well sergeant, the young man standing near you is Fenrir Lupus. He's a first year at my school, though he never actually went through the initiation process that the rest of the first-years went through. What he's doing today is essentially his own personal trial, I've tasked him with locating the Red Hands latest base of operations. If you allow him… a brief window of time to look at the crime scene, I think you might find it to be a great benefit to you both."

Jacob's brow creased in conflict. This wasn't how Ozpin normally handled these things. He'd never sent a single, solitary student off to do something as dangerous as find a criminal organisation.

" _He must have finally cracked,"_ The sergeant thought dryly, _"That, or this kid has got some serious potential."_

"Well," Jacob sighed, "Because it's you professor, I'll allow it. But only for a short time, I have to show some professionalism, or else my colleagues will take me even less seriously than they do already."

The dry delivery of that line elicited a chuckle from the enigmatic Headmaster, and even brought out a good-natured huff from Fenrir. After thanking the Sergeant for his cooperation, Barley handed the scroll back to Fenrir who offered his own thanks to Ozpin.

"You're very welcome Fenrir." Ozpin said, "Now, you best get a move on, time will move faster than you think it will."

" _Yeah, you don't have to tell me that."_ Fenrir thought as he said farewell to the man and pocketed the scroll back into his jacket.

"Well, I suppose you should come with me then." Jacob said while letting out a puff of air, "Her room is near the top of the building, walk behind me so people will know you're with me."

Nodding, Fenrir moved to walk just behind the Sergeant. He was just about to cross the threshold of the apartments entrance, when a sudden tug on his arm stopped him in his tracks.

Turning around, Fenrir was halted, and filled with a growing sense of discomfort, by the sight of the older, mouse-eared woman, looking at him with eyes that seemed to be on the verge of overflowing with tears. The way she held onto his jacket sleeve; was the way someone would hold onto a rope that was **just** keeping their head above water.

"E-excuse me," She stuttered, "Did y-you say you were a Huntsman?"

Fenrir tensed up instantly, his tongue seemingly becoming stuck to the roof of his mouth. The hand that wasn't currently being held by the distraught woman, was twitching frantically, as if searching for something to do.

"I… um… I uh…" Fenrir stammered, his usual response of dismissal to that hated question suddenly having trouble coming outwards.

"Please!" The woman cut him off, nearly falling to the ground as her knees buckled under her, "My daughter, her names Lucy Mauve, she's a sweet young thing and she was happy here. She wouldn't just take off without telling anyone. Please… Please find her… if the Red Hand have her… then… then…"

The woman was crying now, Fenrir just looking on helplessly. This was so far out of his area of expertise. Here was a Human, standing before him, practically **Begging** him for help. Asking him to save someone who he'd never even heard of. Beowolves didn't save, they slaughtered, they devastated.

And yet, here he was, already on the trail of one Faunus, and now being tasked with finding another. His whole outlook on what he was supposed to do with his life had been completely flipped on its head. And now, when faced with such raw emotions, the Alpha felt completely separated from his old life.

And on top of that, he was filled with even more loathing and spite for the Red Hand at the suffering they were causing. Not for the planet like the Grimm did, but purely for themselves, for their own sense of self-importance and superiority.

" _They are ALL gonna pay for what they've done!"_

Jacob was about to step forward and give the woman some comfort, clearly seeing that Fenrir had frozen in place. But then, as if coming back to life, the wolf boys arm shot up abruptly and landed on the woman's shoulder with all the grace of a dead fish.

Indeed, the teen himself seemed surprised by his actions, as if he hadn't been in control of his own limb for that brief moment of time. He recovered quickly however, and even adjusted his hand on the woman's shoulder, so it was a more comforting grip.

"I… I'll do what I can. If I find your daughter, I'll bring her straight back to you. I promise."

It scared Fenrir, genuinely unnerved him, just how much he meant what he said in that moment. Since when had he gotten so virtuous.

" _Ruby's Aura has warped me in so many ways I can't tell what's my own choice anymore."_

The words were enough for the woman, who continued to hold onto Fenrir's hand tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks silently. Having seen enough, Jacob gently pried the woman's hands off of the Grimm and directed her to the younger officer.

"Ma'am, would you stay with my colleague here please, we're going to take another look at your Daughters room."

Once the both of them were certain the older Mouse-Faunus was in safe hands, Fenrir and Jacob finally walked into the apartment. Once inside, Fenrir let out all the air in his lungs and stared down at his hand as if it had offended him.

" _I didn't do that."_ Fenrir thought fearfully, _"I didn't want my hand to move to her shoulder. So what was that?"_

Again, Fenrir was left with that unpleasant sensation that he wasn't entirely alone in this new body. There was something else inside him, and it was anyone's guess as to how much influence it held over him.

"Well, you handled that decently." Barley commented to the distracted Beowolf.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, Fenrir looked to the office and gestured for him to lead the way. He'd worry about his rebelling body later, right now he needed to see what had happened here. As the two ascended the stairs, Fenrir felt the need to show some co-operation on his part.

"Um, thanks for letting me in here Jacob." Fenrir said awkwardly.

"SERGEANT Barley, thank you." Barley corrected firmly, but not harshly, "I didn't spend two years in a police academy to have any random Huntsman-to-be call me Jacob. Let's see how you handle yourself on a crime scene, then we'll talk about exchanging pleasantries."

" _This guy's certainly the more serious type. Maybe I've just gotten too used to jokers."_

Regardless, Fenrir did have to respect the mans collected and calm nature, he was clearly no stranger to situations like this. So with a simple nod, Fenrir continued to follow in the man's footsteps.

….

According to the mother, Lucy Mauve had been kidnapped last night, in her apartment. Knowing this, Fenrir had been expecting a room that looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Instead, he was greeted with a more mundane sight.

The room was fine, not a chair out of place, no signs of a struggle. Before entering the room fully, Jacob checked the door, frowning when he saw no signs of the lock being tampered with or broken.

The room was simple in design. A living room took up most of the space, a kitchen off to the right, a hallway down the left side that lead to a bedroom. All very basic and modern.

Though Fenrir was instantly on edge once he got the scent of the lingering emotions in this place. Fear, terror and malicious intent rang true here. Closing his eyes, Fenrir tried to sort through the emotional traces and get a better picture of what happened here.

He could sense the young woman's presence, the fear obviously belonging to her. And he also sensed another presence, one that definitely didn't belong here.

" _It's a male, older than the girl. So someone was here, and she was definitely captured. Hmm…"_

While Fenrir stood in the middle of the room, eyes shut, Jacob was heading over to the nearest investigator and getting a rundown of the situation.

"Alright, what do we got?" He asked quickly.

"Well, no signs of forced entry." The investigator explained, "We questioned all the tenants on this floor, the few that saw the girl say they saw her enter the room, but no one reports seeing her leave. No signs of a struggle either, the place is basically untouched. We did find a note on the desk in her bedroom, seems to be a running-away note."

"Show me." Barley instructed.

Fenrir followed behind, eavesdropping on the conversation and deciding this note warranted further scrutiny. On the way, he also caught some of another conversation going on between two officers.

"Who's the kid the Sergeant brought in with him?"

"Looks like a Huntsman, check out the Gauntlets."

"Oh yeah, pfft, typical. Of course a Huntsman comes swooping in, no doubt to take all the glory and praise for himself."

" _So, there's friction between the Huntsmen and the police force."_ Fenrir frowned.

It made sense, the Huntsman were just like the police, enforcers of the law. The difference was, the Huntsmen had more power, arguably more authority, and definitely more fame among the general public.

Making a note to ask Ozpin about that later, Fenrir squeezed himself through the narrow doorway to join Barley and the investigator in the girl's bedroom. The thing that immediately stood out to the Grimm were all the drawings and paintings covering the back wall and most of the desk. It wasn't very organised, but even at a distance, Fenrir could see that these drawings were exceptionally well made.

" _So, the girls an artist. And quite a good one too, certainly puts my own work to shame."_

"Here's the note sir." The investigator said as he handed Barley a small sheet of paper.

Fenrir looked over the man's shoulder so he could read the note along with him.

 _Mother_

 _I can't live here anymore, I'm not happy here. Don't come looking for me, I want to find my happiness somewhere else._

"It's… shorter than I was expecting." Jacob commented, mirroring Fenrir's own sentiments.

" _There's no way she wrote this, this looks more like a machine wrote it than an actual Human being."_

Course, Fenrir couldn't just say that and have everyone believe him, he needed some way to prove it.

"This seems like a pretty open and shut case sarge." An officer commented, standing by the bed with his arms folded, "Girl couldn't cut it in the big city and decided to go somewhere else, hardly the first time it's happened."

Barley hummed, but didn't react beyond that. He was in the same mind as Fenrir in that this all seemed too easy. He'd long since learned to trust his gut when it came to matters like this, and right now his gut was telling him that he was missing something.

Fenrir moved closer to the desk, looking across the drawings that were splayed out across the wood surface. The more he looked, the more his mind tried to tell him something was off.

And then it hit him.

" _That note, it was written in red ink. I wonder."_

A hunch made, Fenrir started quickly opening the drawers, rifling through pens, pencils and paints searching for one item in particular, though he hoped he wouldn't find it.

"Fenrir, what are you doing?" Jacob asked, watching as the wolf started flinging stationery up in the air.

After a minute of searching, Fenrir abruptly rose back to his feet and turned to look at the pair of officers with a grim smirk.

He'd come up blank.

"She didn't write that note." He explained, pointing at the mentioned piece of paper, "It was written with a red pen, I just looked through the desk and couldn't find a single red pen. Red paint, yes, but I doubt that's what was used here."

Jacob made a gesture with his head and the investigator moved to look through the desk as well. When the younger officer came to the same result Fenrir had, Jacob nodded his head and looked down at the meagre note.

"Could have taken the pen with her." The sergeant suggested, "We have no way of knowing if that isn't the case."

Fenrir frowned as he realised the Blond had a point. Fortunately, Fenrir needed only to look back at the desk again and a new piece of evidence met his eyes. Moving back, the wolf grabbed a scrap of paper [That appeared to be a shopping list from the looks of it], and without even breathing a word, handed the thing off to Jacob.

Barley took one look at the new scrap of paper, and nodded his head in satisfaction. He handed the paper off to his colleague and followed Fenrir out the door.

"Okay, the girl was definitely kidnapped."

"How can you be sure sir?" The officer asked.

"Look at the letter and that list," Barley explained, "The writing styles are completely different. Someone else wrote this note to try and make it look like she left of her own volition."

"She might have written it in a hurry." The bedside officer piped up, gaining a look of incredulity from both Jacob and Fenrir.

"Oh be serious Perkins!" Barley barked, "Just look at the way this note is written. I'd find it easier to believe it was written by an Atlesian knight than a Human."

Fenrir didn't know what an Atlesian knight was, but it seemed to get the one named Perkins to shut up. Walking back into the living room, the Blond haired man caught the others attention with a sharp whistle that made Fenrir's ears flatten briefly.

"Alright folks, this is officially a kidnapping." Barley called out, "I want every square inch of this whole floor searched. Break out the fine tooth combs, we're gonna be here a while."

The officers instantly started scuttling about like ants, now frantically searching for any kind of clue that could help them identify the kidnapper. Feeling a need to contribute, Fenrir moved over to the window situated in the living room.

" _If no one saw her leave, then the only place they could have logically left is through the window. Now think, how did he do it?"_

Meanwhile, Jacob had moved to the kitchen to see if there was any missed evidence there. It took some searching, but eventually he did spot something off.

"There's a knife missing from this rack." He said aloud.

"What, you think he used a weapon from the victims house. Isn't that kind of amateur-ish?" Perkins asked.

"Well, I think we can assume from the letter, this guy isn't exactly a criminal mastermind." Jacob said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Fenrir listened along absentmindedly as he undid the latch on the window and opened it up to breathe in the outside air.

To the right of the window was a long metal staircase that clung to the building like ivy on a rock. It was close enough that Fenrir would only have to stretch his leg to reach the landing.

"Sergeant!" The Alpha called out, beckoning with his hand for the older man to join him.

Now it was the Sergeants turn to look over the Grimm's shoulder, quickly spotting what Fenrir was looking at and coming to the same conclusion himself.

"Ah, fire escape. That's got to be the only way the two got out of the building unnoticed."

Jacob looked down at the dirty alleyway far below them, scanning over it quickly before nodding his head.

"Alley's big enough for a car to fit through. I'll have the tech guys run through the surveillance cameras in this area."

While Jacob looked down, Fenrir looked up and ahead. He didn't know why, but a hunch told him to look at the building that neighboured the one he was standing in. Whoever they were dealing with, regardless of intelligence, hadn't done this on a whim, some planning had to have been involved.

"How could he have gotten through the window? It's not broken." Fenrir muttered; unaware Barley could hear him.

"Well, ruling out any kind of forced entry, our only options are; the guy picked the lock, or our victim was careless and left the window open. With the amount of times I've had to remind civilians to keep their windows locked when they leave their residences, it isn't that much of a stretch unfortunately."

Fenrir processed the possibilities and continued to scan the windows of the adjacent apartment block.

" _So either way, our guy had to wait for the right moment to strike, like a predator waiting for the perfect moment to ambush its prey. This isn't a simple nab and grab, it was planned out in advance."_

The Grimm looked out, leaning almost all the way out the window frame, and then, his eyes caught something. A flicker of reflected sunlight that irritated his eyes briefly before he was able to squint through the glare.

What he saw made him instantly bolt upright. The lens of a telescope… pointed straight at the window the Beowolf was standing in.

"As informative as this all is," Jacob said, frowning slightly, "It doesn't tell us who did this, or even entirely how they did it… hey, what are you doing?"

The officers including Jacob looked at the Alpha in varying degrees of bewilderment as he quickly backed away from the window, only for them all to jump in a panic as Fenrir sprinted forward at an alarming rate and then dive-bombed through the open window.

Fenrir sailed forwards through the air, dipped a few meters, and then collided against the hard brick wall, his claws cutting into the brick and cement as he slid down the wall before coming to a stop. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Fenrir scaled the vertical face and quickly arrived at the window the telescope was looking through.

The inside of this room was covered in darkness, making it hard for Fenrir to see if there was anyone inside. Luckily, he didn't need to see, his other heightened senses told him that the room was empty and that it was safe for him to enter.

And so he did, in a way that only a Grimm would consider acceptable. By smashing in the window and crawling through like a lizard.

"GAH-BUH, SIR!" Perkins yelled, "That Wolf Faunus just broke into another man's house!"

"Yeah! I have eyes Perkins!" Jacob snapped back, "Fenrir! The hell are you doing?"

The Black-and-blue haired teen disappeared briefly, neither Jacob nor Perkins able to see the wolf's form. A second later though, he returned and boldly pointed at the telescope that was still looking straight at the window Jacob was leaning through.

The Sergeants eyes became like dinner plates as he saw what Fenrir was implying.

"Holy crap." He muttered, before quickly turning and pointing at some of the gawking officers.

"Get a team round to that building right now!" He ordered, "Find out who lives in that room. Come on, let's go! We don't have all day, move!"

While a group of policemen was formed, Fenrir was already making his way back, jumping out of the smashed window, and clambering back into the victim's room.

"Fenrir." Jacob said expectantly, wondering why Fenrir had come back so soon.

"I don't think our guy is living there anymore," He informed the blond man, "The place was bare, but I still got all the proof I needed to connect this to the Red Hand."

Slowly, the Alpha brought up a leaflet for Jacob to look at. Emblazoned on the front was a symbol that Jacob instantly recognised. A red Handprint, and underneath that was the tagline: 'Restore the natural order'.

"You know," Jacob sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose, "The White Fang was trouble by itself, but apparently fate wasn't satisfied with that, and is now giving me TWO terrorist organisations to try and contain. If those two ever clash… all hell is gonna break loose."

Again, Fenrir was completely in the dark about who the White Fang were. But hearing such an ominous warning from the seasoned officer, he felt more inclined to find out all he could about them, sooner rather than later.

Putting the White Fang to the back of his mind, Fenrir strode forward and scanned the whole room.

"Okay," He whispered, "I think I've got the full picture of what happened here."

The Beowolf pointed out through the window, back to where the telescope was staring at them all.

"The guy we're looking for must have been scoping this place out for days, figuring out the girls patterns, and when was the best time to strike. Judging by this leaflet, I'm guessing he was a new recruit, and perhaps, he wanted to show his commitment to the cause. He waited for the right time, made his way over here using the fire escape. He either picked the lock, or she'd foolishly left it open."

Walking to the kitchen, Fenrir continued to give a play-by-play of what happened, Jacob and others watching with rapt attention.

"He didn't have his own weapon, so he grabbed a knife." Fenrir said, pointing next towards the bedroom.

"He most likely wrote that crummy note beforehand, placed it on her bed and waited to strike."

The Beowolf then hid himself behind the front door, positioned in such a way that no one walking in would be able to see him until they were already in the room.

"When she showed up, he quickly shut the door and threatened her with the knife. From there it was a simple matter of getting her through the window, down the fire escape, and into a car that was already waiting there. Simple, but efficient."

Barley scratched at the hairs on his chin as Fenrir finished up his story. The Sergeant turned the story over and over in his head, before he came to the conclusion that this really was their best working theory right now.

"Okay," He admitted, "Your theory isn't totally ridiculous."

A quiet murmuring of agreement spread throughout the room as the officers all seemed to buy into Fenrir's story.

"Still though," Jacob said, his brow creasing into a troubled frown, "We're still no closer to having a name or even a face for this guy."

To his surprise, Fenrir didn't lose the half-smirk he wore on his face that made him look, more than a little dangerous.

"Maybe not," He admitted, "But I did find these."

Reaching down to his rear, Fenrir unclipped something from his hip and presented it as his final piece of evidence. At the sight of it, Jacob groaned in a mixture of frustration and exasperation.

A pair of modern, red sunglasses.

….

Fenrir was back on street level, watching as cop cars peeled off from the pavement, travelling to who knows where. Some of the policemen were sticking around to question the other people who lived in the apartment, others still, making their way over to the neighbouring building to question a whole new bunch of people.

" _Well, that certainly wasn't what I'm used to."_ The young Beowolf reflected, _"But I must admit, that was kind of fun. Figuring out what happened, gathering the evidence. It was like looking at the aftermath of a hunt, piecing together how it went down."_

While Fenrir might have been in high spirits, Jacob Barley most certainly was not. The man appeared to be talking to someone [From the sounds of it, his superior], and judging from the steadily rising volume, it was a rather heated discussion. Eventually, Jacob hung up the Scroll and walked back towards the Alpha.

"Well, top brass are dragging their feet as usual," He griped, "So I guess I'm gonna have to make inquiries by myself."

"You think you know who did this?" Fenrir asked.

He remembered the reaction Jacob had given when he'd shown the man the sunglasses. It was the look of a man who knew who the item belonged to, but wasn't any happier for knowing this.

"Not specifically," Jacob admitted, "But I think I know who to ask to get the answers I want. It just depends on if he's willing to give 'em."

Fenrir cocked his head in confusion, not knowing who this 'he' Jacob was talking about. Shaking his head, the older man gestured with a thumb to his own patrol car.

"You fancy coming with?" He asked, "Know you said you ain't a Huntsman, but you look enough like the part that you might be able to 'convince' him to co-operate."

Fenrir thought it over for a moment, before eventually shaking his head.

"Thanks, but I've got my own investigation to be getting on with." Fenrir explained, bringing out the pair of sunglasses he'd kept in his jacket pocket, "I'm going to try and find who these belong to. I'm thinking they'll be able to tell me where exactly the Red Hand are."

Fenrir brought the sunglasses up and smelled the handles.

"Oh, right." Jacob exclaimed, initially confused and weirded-out by Fenrir's actions, "You're a wolf Faunus, you can track, scents can't you?"

The Grimm took one more inhale, before pulling away and frowning lightly.

"Hmm, it's faint…" Fenrir grumbled, "He hasn't worn them for a while, but I should be able to track him down."

Actually, Fenrir wasn't so sure. The best way to track prey, was to look for a scent that was fresh. Faint scents like this one, would only get him so far.

"Right, well, if you're going to go do that," Barley said, bringing out his own Police-standard Scroll, "Contact me if you find him, I'll want to bring him in for questioning."

Agreeing, Fenrir quickly exchanged numbers with the man. With no other reason to stick around, Fenrir span round until he picked up the faint trail and quickly made his way to follow it.

"Good luck out there!" Jacob called out just as he closed the door to his car and drove off.

" _He was nice."_ The soft voice gave its opinion.

Fenrir nodding his head was the only sign he gave that he agreed. It was clear that the man had been at this job for quite a while already, and he kept a level head at all times.

" _These Humans…"_ Fenrir thought with a touch of amusement, _"Sometimes, they act exactly how I imagined they would. And yet, others are completely different. Some of them don't want the world destroyed, some of them aren't driven by selfish desires. I wonder… have my kind had it wrong, all this time?"_

Realising where his thoughts were going, Fenrir slapped his cheeks and chastised himself for having such traitorous thoughts. His kind couldn't be wrong, it was stupid to think they did. If Humanity was allowed to run free, they would lay waste to the whole world in their mad dash to own and consume everything.

That was what Fenrir had always believed… so why had that suddenly become harder to accept.

The Beowolf quickly came to regret his wandering thoughts, for as he looked around the street he was on, now quite a ways from the apartment building, he came to an ugly realisation. He sniffed at the air, trying to reclaim what was lost, but it was pointless.

He'd lost the trail.

" _Dammit! I should have been faster."_

Growling angrily, Fenrir reached for his Scroll. Checking the time, the Alpha felt a growing sense of worry start to build in his chest. Fenrir had never been on a hunt that was on a strict time limit before, so he'd been taking his time a little. That decision had now come to bite him on the rear.

" _2:30, Great, I'm already almost halfway done with my time limit. I need to move!"_

Fenrir started walking at a much faster pace, almost jogging. He attempted to try and refocus on Rostig's scent, but even that trail was starting to grow cold. At this rate, Fenrir was worried he might actually…

"Fenrir?"

A child's voice cut through Fenrir's hurried thoughts, stopping him in his tracks. Looking around, the Beasts eyes were quickly drawn to a bright blue object heading his way. As it got closer, the object quickly revealed itself to be a small boy.

A boy with blue hair, bright yellow eyes, and small, blue wings.

"Theo?!"

Phthalo Hrothgar beamed up at the colossal Wolf Faunus who'd remembered his name. The boy was using his wings to propel himself along slightly so he could join Fenrir quicker.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Theo asked once he was by Fenrir's side.

The Grimm initially said nothing. He wasn't sure if he wanted to bring Phthalo into this. The last time the two of them had seen each other, was when they'd been captured by the Red Hand and ad been trying to break out.

Although, looking at the boy, it was clear he wasn't going to leave until Fenrir gave him an answer. So, with a heavy sigh, Fenrir explained as best he could.

"I'm looking for a Faunus who was kidnapped, well, multiple Faunus now." Fenrir said, "They've been taken by the Red Hand. So I'm going to get them back."

"Oooh, cool!" Phthalo exclaimed, lifting off the ground slightly from where his wings were flapping in excitement, "Hey, can I help?"

"Absolutely not." The Alpha said firmly, crossing his arms for good measure, "The last time we encountered the Red Hand, you were nearly killed. Speaking of which, where are your parents?"

At the sudden question, Phthalo suddenly became very sheepish, scratching the back of his head as his wings finally closed behind his back.

"Wellll, my parents both work, so they asked my Aunt to watch me." He explained.

"And where is she?" Fenrir asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Uh, heh heh, well see, ummm…" Phthalo stammered, before slumping forward in defeat, "I kind of slipped away when she wasn't looking."

Far from impressed, The Alpha just shook his head disapprovingly.

"Theo…" He said, his tone indicating he was going to scold the boy for his decision.

"I'm sorry!" The boy apologised quickly, "But Auntie is SO boring! She just wanted to go in the antique shops all day."

"There are men looking to capture Faunus, Theo." Fenrir continued, ignoring whatever gripes the boy had with his aunt, "You were already stolen away by them once, do you want to be taken again?"

Phthalo's head dropped down as the Wolf reprimanded him with a harsh glare.

"No," He mumbled, rubbing at his nose.

Fenrir just shook his head despairingly.

" _Honestly, what was he thinking?"_ He wondered, _"He's a child, it would make more sense if he was scared witless by what happened and never went outside again."_

" _Oh come now Fenrir,"_ The soft voice interjected, _"I've seen your memories, you weren't exactly the most well-behaved child yourself. In fact, it seems like you were always running off getting into all kinds of trouble."_

" _Can we not do this right now!?"_ Fenrir seethed internally, not needing to be reminded of his own rebellious and stupid youth.

Looking back down at the now deflated Bird Faunus, Fenrir let out a long-suffering sigh, and reached down to ruffle the boys short, scruffy hair.

"Well, I guess I'll have to keep an eye on you for now." He sighed, "Just until we can get you back to your aunt."

"Really!" The boy exclaimed, his energy bouncing right back up at the prospect of hanging out with the strong Wolf.

"Yeah, but we're not playing." He reminded the boy, "I'm on a mission, so just try to keep up alright?"

"You got it!" Phthalo said, puffing his chest out to look bigger than he actually was.

Shaking his head, Fenrir turned and walked off, Phthalo falling in step beside him. Well, he tried to, but he eventually had to jog just to keep up with Fenrir's long strides.

"So what are we doing now?" The boy eventually asked.

"I'm… not entirely sure." Fenrir admitted, wincing slightly, "I lost the scent of a guy I was following who could possibly reveal the location of the Red Hands new hiding place."

"Oh really?" Phthalo asked, "What does he look like?"

"I do not know." Fenrir frowned, rifling through his jacket pockets to produce the fashionable eyewear, "All I know is that these sunglasses belong to him."

The small, feathered boy looked at the red sunglasses, scrunching his nose as he scrutinised the thing. Fenrir expected him to just look at the glasses and that would be it. What he hadn't expected was the look of recognition that crossed his face.

"Wait, actually…" Phthalo pressed a hand to his temple, as if trying to quickly recall a faint memory.

"What, what is it?" Fenrir asked, his attention now fully on the blue-winged boy.

"I think I remember a man saying he'd lost his glasses, he seemed really angry about it."

It was a long shot, literally, Fenrir was grasping at straws. But he didn't have much time left, he had to take whatever was given to him.

"What did this man look like?" He said quickly, his tail whipping behind him in eager anxiousness.

"He was wearing a black suit," Phthalo said after sorting through his memories, "And a black hat, he had a funny beard too. I've seen a few people wearing suits just like it before, but those guys all had red sunglasses, just like these ones."

" _Doesn't sound like the Red Hand."_ Fenrir remarked, _"But it could be connected somehow. I need to follow this up."_

"What way did he go?" Fenrir crouched down to be eye-level with the boy, his eyes piercing Phthalo to show how serious this was.

"Umm, he went uhh…" Phthalo twirled on the spot, eventually pointing down a street they'd just walked past, "That way! He went that way!"

"Alright," Fenrir exclaimed, a slightly evil looking grin crossing his face, "follow me, shout out if you see him Theo."

"Yes sir!" Phthalo yelled exuberantly, full on saluting the bigger Faunus.

Fenrir chuckled at the sight, and the two moved off, both hoping that they'd find who they were looking for.

And Phthalo hoping that he'd get to see Fenrir in action again.

…..

"And then, Obi-Wan's says 'Use the force Luke', and then Luke turns his targeting computer off and…"

Phthalo was a ball of energy, constantly flying and hovering around Fenrir, who was content to travel at a much slower pace. All around them, people were milling about, doing things normal people did. At some points, Fenrir had to drag Phthalo through the air to stop him from colliding with a civilian who wasn't paying attention.

Despite the fact that the Grimm was still focused on the task at hand, he did find the younger boys stories to be quite amusing. Right now, he was telling the Alpha about one of his favourite movies. The look on the boys face when Fenrir told him that up until a few days ago, he didn't even know what a movie was, was a look Fenrir would never forget for as long as he lived, it actually made the stoic Grimm laugh aloud at just how flabbergasted Theo looked.

"…And then the whole thing blew up 'BOOM!', and they all had a big award ceremony at the end."

The sudden silence made Fenrir realise that Phthalo was waiting for a response from him.

"Hmm, well that certainly sounds… interesting." Fenrir admitted, honestly a little intrigued at the idea of battles in space. Though, he doubted he'd ever be up for something like that.

" _I can barely handle being up in the air, much less up among the stars."_

"What did you say it was called again?" Fenrir asked his flying partner.

"Star wars." Phthalo exclaimed in his usual boisterous manner, "My parents own all of them. You should totally sit down and watch them sometime!"

Fenrir thought about it for a second, then nodded his head in affirmation before bringing up his scroll.

"I'll add it to the list." He informed the blue-haired boy, opening a certain tab on his scroll.

"List?" Phthalo wondered, hovering up to look over the Beowolf's shoulder.

"Hmm? Oh, a friend of mine made it for me." He informed Phthalo, remembering the day Ruby had sat him down and typed out a list of things he apparently HAD to see in order to know more about Humans.

Books, movies, songs, and also some that were called 'Video games', which were like movies only you could interact with them using a controller.

" _From the way Ruby described some of them, they sound like the ultimate power-fantasies… So naturally Humans love them."_

Fenrir scrolled down the list and eventually added 'Star wars', in-between 'Spruce Willis movies' and 'Howling at the moon series'.

"WHAT!" Phthalo yelled, catching the attention of more than a few passers-by, "You haven't even read 'Harry Potter'? What have you been doing with your time?"

"S-shut up." Fenrir said, feeling a little self-conscious at how Theo was looking at him, "I didn't exactly have time for stuff like this when I was younger, I lived outside most of my life."

That appeared to catch the boy off guard as he now looked at the Grimm with a more curious eye.

"You lived outsi… HEY FENRIR LOOK!"

The sudden increase in volume made Fenrir's ears flatten on his head, but Phthalo hardly noticed as he started pointing over Fenrir's shoulder.

"What, what is it?" Fenrir asked, trying to see what the boy was looking at.

"That's him," Phthalo gestured wildly, "That's the guy I was telling you about, he's in there!"

A second later, Fenrir finally spotted who Phthalo was pointing at, inside a small Cornershop. He was just as the blue-haired boy had described, Black suit with a red tie, equally black hat, and an irritable expression that combined with his goatee, just made him look ridiculous in Fenrir's eye.

" _Alright, we've found him, so now what?"_ Fenrir wondered, not entirely sure how to proceed from here.

There was every possibility this could just be some random guy. In which case, Fenrir would just be beating him up for no reason. Plus, it turns he couldn't just go in and ask the guy normally, due to the sign on the door saying, 'No Faunus allowed'.

" _Rrrggh, seriously?"_ Fenrir clenched his fists in barely restrained fury, _"Some places won't even LET Faunus inside, what is wrong with these people!?"_

Bringing out the Sunglasses again, the Alpha turned them over in his hands, wondering how best to figure out if this was the man he was looking for or not. He only had a small window of time before the man inevitably left the shop and went off to wherever it was he was going.

Suddenly, inspiration struck the Grimm as he looked towards Phthalo who was watching the teen with bated breath. It was a risky move, many would call it downright foolish, but it was also guaranteed to work, one way or the other. Besides, the boy had already proven he was more than willing to help him out.

" _Really?"_ The soft voice asked, an edge to its otherwise harmonic tone that suggested disbelief, _"You're going to use a CHILD as bait?"_

" _Relax,"_ He attempted to pacify the mystery voice, _"I'll step in before any harm can come to him."_

When the voice remained silent, Fenrir took that as his cue to go ahead.

"Theo." Fenrir said simply.

"Yeah Fenrir?"  
"I've got an idea," Fenrir held the sunglasses towards the boy, "And I'm going to need your help to do it."

Fenrir quickly went about explaining his plan to the boy. Naturally, the little Bluebird was completely for the idea, more than eager to help out his friend. Whilst all this planning was going on however, the two boys had no idea that another pair was watching the shop with equally indifferent gazes.

Though all four of them had no idea of the collision course they had just been set on.

….

Fenrir had stealthily made his way into a narrow side-alley that was right next to the store. Plastering himself to the wall, the Demon seamlessly blended in with the shadows the dim alley provided. Outside the alley stood Phthalo, now wearing the red sunglasses on his face and trying his best to look innocent.

Fenrir's ears constantly winced at the out-of-pitch whistling Phthalo was generating.

" _Come on you insensitive jerk."_ Fenrir begged, _"Hurry up and come out already, I can't take much more of that sound!"_

The Grimm's prayers were soon answered by the sound of a tinkling bell. The Grimm held his breath as Phthalo stiffened up and locked eyes with someone Fenrir couldn't see.

" _Alright Theo, just like we planned."_

After taking a few calming breaths, Phthalo straightened himself up and adopted what he hoped was a cool man's pose.

"Hey mister!" He called out, "You like my new shades?"

Just out of sight, a gruff voice snapped back at Phthalo.

"Beat it kid, I don't have time for…" The voice paused, then started back up again, sounding even more irate than before, "What the hell? Where'd you get those sunglasses you little brat?!"

Theo backed up a little, getting the full blast of the mans angered expression.

"Uh, a f-friend gave them to me. You like them?" He asked with a wobbly smile.

"They're mine you dumb chicken!" The man said with a sneer, finally walking into the Beowolf's line of sight, "Hand 'em over right now, or I'll clip those wings of yours!"

While Phthalo was now sweating buckets, Fenrir smiled viciously and started to make his way out of the alley.

" _Got you."_

Just before the man could lay a finger on Phthalo, Fenrir appeared, seemingly as if from the shadows themselves. The look he shot the man was… chilling. His blue irises glowed in the low lighting and his fangs gleamed as he smiled widely.

"So these glasses do belong to you huh?" He asked.

"W-wh… who the hell are…" The man sputtered, backing away fro the sudden arrival of the older, much bigger Faunus.

Fenrir started to chuckle darkly as he took another step towards the suited man. He had to really supress the urge to lick his teeth as he could taste the growing fear coming off the man.

" **That's all I needed to hear**."

"Just what the hell is this?!" The man asked, looking between the bird and the wolf, "Is this some kind of stupid prank, just who do you think you GARRKKHHGGHH!"

Lunging forward, Fenrir grabbed the man by the throat, hoisted him up into the air, and then dragged him back into the depths of the alley. Phthalo stood unsure for a second, before he jogged to catch up to the Grimm.

The man desperately struggled in Fenrir's grip, but it did him no good. At one point, the man tried to reach for a small pistol attached to his hip, but Fenrir quickly snatched the thing and tossed it off to the side.

Once Fenrir was satisfied that they'd walked far enough in, he tossed the man up into the air like he weighed as much as a softball to him, and then threw him head-first into the side of a dumpster. The clang from the impact echoed loudly, but Fenrir hardly paid it any mind as he rolled his shoulders and flexed his fingers, his knuckles crackling slightly.

" _ **This is the part I was looking forward to."**_ Fenrir admitted to himself, his thoughts gradually turning darker as he drank in the man's terror.

"Y-you little…" The man wasn't even able to get his insult out before a piece of paper was thrown at his feet.

"I'm guessing this belongs to you as well?" The Beowolf commented, his eyes continuing to flash dangerously in the dim lighting.

Looking down, the man almost audibly gulped at the sight of the Red Hand leaflet. The emotions the man was openly displaying were clear enough indicators to the Grimm that he did indeed recognise the object.

But that didn't stop the goon from attempting to lie anyway.

"I- I don't know anything about that." He said, trying to scramble back to his feet.

" _Lie."_

Fenrir's scowl deepened as he walked up to the man, his eyes never once wavering from the miserable wretch in front of him.

"Now, you are going to turn around, and walk away right now…"

" **Shut up!"**

Fenrir followed up his command with a swift boot to the head, breaking the mans nose like a twig and causing blood to start spurting out of the broken orifice, his head bouncing off the back of the metal dumpster.

"AH! You son of a…" The man was interrupted again by Fenrir now picking him up by his hair and getting right up in his face, making a point to show as much of his sharpened teeth as possible.

"I am running out of patience!" He snarled, "You took a Faunus girl from her home. You sold her to the Red Hand. You're lucky I'm not killing you right this second!"

"Do you… do you have any idea who I am? Who you're dealing with?" The man drew upon whatever courage he had left to talk back to the Wolf. The effort was wasted.

"No, and I don't care." Fenrir said, "You are going to give me what I want, and what I want is the location of the Red Hands base."

"I'm not telling you anything!" The man spat.

A bone-chilling growl seeped out of Fenrir's mouth. It was the kind of growl that started in the back of the throat and ended up in the back of someone else's. Fenrir turned and slammed the suited man into the wall, his claws digging into the man's flesh slightly.

" **How many bones do I have to break before you reconsider that stance?"** He asked with a vile grin crossing his face as he reached down and grabbed the fingers on the man's left hand.

The man was visibly trembling in fear now as Fenrir had a vice-like grip on his fingers. Still, dumb defiance still ruled his judgement.

"Go to hell!" He cried, doing his best to look tough and failing miserably.

Fenrir, meanwhile, was having a hard time keeping his thoughts together as his blood-lust continued to rise.

" _ **Forget the interrogation!"**_ A darker version of Fenrir's own voice whispered in his brain, _**"Lets kill him, it's been too long since we killed a human. Come on… rip his heart out through his throat."**_

" _Fenrir!"_ The soft voice cut off his murderous thoughts, _"Remember that there is a child present."_

Blinking, Fenrir turned and saw that Phthalo was in fact, still there. The boy was fidgeting nervously, not really comfortable with how much Fenrir seemed to be enjoying hurting this man. Closing his eyes, Fenrir took a calming breath and spoke to Phthalo in a much softer tone than he did worth the man he was currently pinning to the wall.

"Violence is wrong Theo." He instructed the boy, "You know that, right?"

Phthalo remained silent for a second, before nodding his head.

"Yes."

"Good."

Having gotten his answer, Fenrir swiftly turned back to his prey, and twisted his pointer and middle fingers back until they popped out of their sockets. The shriek the man let out was shrill and agonising.

Music to a Beowolf's ears.

"Do you think I'll stop there?" He asked the now panting man, "Hurry up and talk, or else I'll re-decorate this whole alleyway with your blood."

The man whimpered pathetically, not even looking the beast in the eye.

"I… I can't," He gasped out, "If I tell you anything, lady Vatn, she'll kill me!"

Fenrir cocked his head at this new name that had been given to him. The man seemed to bite his lip, as if realising he'd said too much.

"Lady Vatn," Fenrir asked, "Who is that?"

"That's what we'd like to know as well."

A sudden, new, feminine voice made itself known to the group. Theo turned around and yelped as he saw a woman was standing directly behind him. Fenrir likewise appeared alarmed, dropping the goon to the floor. His negative radar not once letting him know someone else had entered the alley with him. Though, that might have been because it was preoccupied with all the fear the thug was generating.

The woman in question appeared to be about a year or two older than Fenrir himself, and was wearing a white dress that had a slight hint of blue to it. She had long black hair, and green eyes that were made all the more striking by the heavy, cyan-coloured eyeshadow she wore. Around her neck she wore a scarf that appeared to be made out of feathers.

The man took one look at the new arrival, and amazingly appeared to be more terrified than he'd been when held in Fenrir's claws.

"Oh crap." He muttered.

"Hello Tommy." The girl called out, almost sounding bored with the whole ordeal.

The man named Tommy scrambled to his feet and sprinted off in the opposite direction. Before Fenrir could even think to give chase, a second figure appeared from the opposite side of the alley, cutting off Tommy's retreat.

"Leaving so soon?" The second girl said, the barest hint of a smile on her face as she saw Tommy's face turn deathly pale.

" _Another one!"_ Fenrir exclaimed, _"And… Is she a clone? They look almost exactly alike."_

Despite that thought, it soon became clear that there were subtle differences between the two girls. For one, this second arrival wore a red and black dress. Her hair was cut shorter than the other one's and her equally green eyes were highlighted with red eyeshadow as opposed to cyan. Another distinguishing feature was that the girl in red didn't have a feather scarf, she instead had a black piece of fur cloth that hung off her shoulders.

Quicker than anyone could blink, the girl in red backhanded the suited man, sending him crumpling to the floor unconscious.

It was then that Fenrir realised both of these girls were armed. The one in the red dress sporting a pair of claws similar to his own, only hers had only two blades on each arm, as opposed to his four. He did despair a little when he saw that hers were slightly bigger than his, but the soft voice quickly chided him for that train of thought.

" _Let's not go there."_ It warned him.

The girl in the white dress also had a pair of blades, though these ones were instead attached to the heels of her boots. Quickly, Phthalo dashed to hide behind Fenrir, not sure what was going on but not liking these new people on sight.

"Fenrir, what's going on? Who are they?" The boy whispered, fear lacing his voice.

"I don't know, stay behind me." Fenrir responded back quickly before drawing himself up and glaring at the two girls.

"Who are you?" He demanded, "Are you with the Red Hand?"

The two girls almost simultaneously rolled their eyes, the both of them seemed to carry the same air of bored indifference, and it was already starting to irritate the Grimm.

"Do we look like we'd associate with that bunch of idiots?" The one in white asked incredulously.

"That guy you're pounding on is a former colleague of ours." The one in red carried on where the one in white had stopped, "Junior asked us to bring him in. Apparently he stole something he wasn't supposed to steal, and he hasn't reported back in days."

" _Junior, another one I don't know."_ Fenrir lamented.

"So if you don't mind," The girl in the white dress drawled, "We'll be taking him now."

Fenrir scowled as he realised his one lead was about to be taken away from him. He could not allow that. He didn't care who these two were, or what they wanted with Tommy, he was not about to let them halt his investigation.

"You're not taking him anywhere." Fenrir said firmly.

The two girls raised their eyebrows, but said nothing more. The one in red moved to pick up the unconscious man, but Fenrir quickly dashed forward and cut her off, growling angrily at her.

"You really think you can take us both on?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"I don't know," Fenrir admitted, before baring his teeth, "But I'm willing to find out. I need him to tell me where the Red Hand is. If you want him, you're going to have to take him from me."

Phthalo again appeared to grow restless, not sure if he should run away or try to help Fenrir fight these girls. Fenrir quickly looked at the scared boy and sent him a calming look, making a lowering gesture with his hand.

" _Stay down,"_ Was the message he was trying to convey, _"This fight is mine."_

The two girls looked at each other for a second, before shrugging in synch and then getting into battle positions. Fenrir, likewise, lowered his stance and brought Frostbite up to bear.

"Melanie, who is this boy?" The one in red asked, running the length of her blades against one another and generating sparks.

"I don't know Miltia," The one in white responded, her bladed heels scraping along the stone floor, "But I think we need to teach him a lesson."

Face set in determination, the Grimm felt adrenaline start to course through his veins as he finally pressed the pads on his Gauntlets and prepared to fight for his prey.

SHNNK!

 **A/N: And there we are, part 1. I'm interested to see what people think of this one as it was quite a challenge to write. For one thing, if it wasn't obvious, I haven't seen that many cop shows, but I did try to do my best with the crime scene… scene.**

 **The next chapter will be where all the big fight scenes are so look forward to that. As always, leave a review and I'll see you next time.**

 **Rostig- German for Rusty**

 **Vatn- Nordic for lake. Given there's only one other I've created with a Nordic name, I think you can piece together who this person is.**


	33. Chapter 33: The red hand rises part 2

**A/N: And part two, no big message this time. Let's just go!**

 _Sometime earlier…_

Despite the fact that Junior was there boss, the Malachite twins could hardly help the miniscule grins that adorned their faces as said man practically screamed into his Scroll, face as red as a beetroot from just how angry he was. Really, they both knew they shouldn't be in such high spirits, but it was better than moping constantly, even they had their limits.

Lately, it seemed ever since that Blonde bimbo had waltzed into Junior's club several months ago and trashed the place, things had only gotten more complicated for the group of criminals. It had cost a lot of Lien for Junior to get the place fixed, not that he didn't have money to spare but still, it was annoying. Then, not long after that, they'd lost a bunch of their guys after they were hired by a certain 'Master Thief', meaning Melanie and Miltia had to do even more grunt work than usual, much to their ire.

And now, just to put the icing on the cake… it turns out they had just been robbed.

"GRRRGGHH!" Junior startled the pair suddenly as he slammed his scroll onto the countertop, rattling the cleaned glasses that had been placed there in preparation for later that night, "USELESS, STUPID, UNRELIABLE, WHAT DO I EVEN PAY THOSE IDIOTS FOR?!"

The twins were identical in a lot of ways, even their personalities were almost mirror images of each other. That said, there were some differences between the two, one just had to really look to find them.

For example, Miltia backed up half a step at the sight of Junior's full blown anger, whilst Melanie just sighed and crossed her arms, her expression being one of vague haughtiness.

"Calm down Junior." She said coolly, "You're gonna hurt yourself."

"Calm down?" The older man asked incredulously, "In case you haven't noticed, we just had a whole safe-load of Lien, my own PRIVATE stash, stolen from right under our noses. My rep's already taken a hit after all these recent screw-ups we've been having, if this gets out, I'll be a JOKE!"

The broad-shouldered, giant of a man shuddered forward, and finally collapsed onto a barstool that he had thankfully been close to. The twins shared a look as their boss took a moment to get his blood pressure back down to a healthy level. Nodding, Miltia took a few steps towards Junior.

"We'll get it back." She told him, "We already checked the security camera's, we know who it was. All we have to do is go get them and make them give it back."

Junior looked up at the red twin through the gaps in his fingers, his face finally starting to look less like a sweaty tomato as he calmed down. Behind her, Melanie just scoffed at how much Junior was, in her opinion, over-reacting.

Once Junior had gotten his breathing pattern back to an acceptable rate, he shot his two lieutenants a fearsome look.

"You'd better catch this guy!" He seethed, "And you'd better teach him what happens to those who think they can pull the wool over MY eyes!"

The older man got back to his feet and made to move behind the bar, deciding that busying himself with tidying up would help take his mind off the fact that his business was steadily crumbling around him. Before he'd fully made his way around however, he spied that Melanie and Miltia hadn't budged an inch since he'd given them the order to find the thief.

"WELL?! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?" He boomed, "GET OUT THERE RIGHT NOW!"

Rolling their eyes one last time, the duo turned on their heels and started making their way out of the nightclub, Melanie's bladed heels striking the floor and echoing loudly in the empty room. Once the pair were out of Junior's line of sight, Miltia turned to her more collected twin and asked a question that had been plaguing her mind since this morning.

"This is bad, isn't it?" She asked, her face now clearly showing concern now that she was in the presence of the one person she trusted most in this world.

Melanie shot a scowl at her sister, but then the scowl instantly softened at the genuine worry the short-haired twin was displaying. She was right, this was the first time in a while that the two sisters had been worried about their job security.

"Things will get better," Melanie assured her twin, "Let's just focus on getting this guy before he pawns off all of Junior's money."

With her piece said, Melanie walked forward and opened the doors leading out of the nightclub, Miltia falling in step behind her.

The pair had noticed for a while now that one of Juniors goons, who they could only remember by his name 'Tommy', had been rather distracted as of late. He'd distanced himself from his colleagues and had overall started to become lax in his duties. To top it off, whenever a patron came into the nightclub who just so happened to be a Faunus, Tommy would instantly adopt a mood of disgust and distance himself from said Faunus.

So it hadn't been much of a surprise to the pair, when they'd seen his face on the security camera installed in Junior's office.

" _Idiot didn't even cover his face."_ Melanie tutted, disappointed in the goon's incompetence. Perhaps this was all a blessing in disguise, cutting this guy from their ranks before he caused potential problems in the future.

" _Because the last thing we need right now,"_ The girl thought as she shielded her eyes from the morning sun, _"Is_ _ **more**_ _problems."_

…..

Turns out, even retrieving one guy was proving almost more trouble than it was worth for the twins. When they had finally tracked Tommy down, they'd quickly discovered they were not the only ones who were in pursuit of the man.

This new pair were a strange sight to the twin criminals. One was a boy, an actual _literal_ child with bright blue hair, and equally blue wings on his back. The other one, looked a touch more intimidating. A giant, leather-wearing Wolf-Faunus with piercing, dark blue eyes and gleaming white fangs.

They'd watched, intrigued when the Wolf instantly started beating on Tommy without even a shred of hesitation once he'd gotten him in the alleyway. Whoever this person was, he clearly wasn't a stranger to violence. Though it did make them wonder why the younger one was hanging around this brute of a man.

From their eavesdropping, they quickly found out that the Wolf was searching for a kidnapped Faunus. Apparently, Tommy had gotten himself involved with the Red Hand, another pain in Juniors neck. The pair had caught a few of their masked members hanging around outside Junior's club, peddling their sanctimonious hate-speech to anyone within earshot.

It would seem Tommy had been listening to their drivel.

Eventually, the two grew bored of this interrogation and in synch, the pair revealed themselves to the boys. Unsurprisingly, the wolf was unwilling to let his prey go, so the two prepared for what was sure to be a boring fight.

And then, eight claws had come shooting out of the Wolf's arms. Bright, shining silver and weirdly humming. The man crouched low and growled at the pair, showing off all his teeth.

" _Oh great. Another Gauntlet user."_ Miltia despaired, making sure to keep her face as neutral as possible.

This situation was increasingly getting more familiar with one the girls had gone through not that long ago. She didn't know about her sister, but Miltia was in no rush to go through that again.

Which is why it came as no surprise when Melanie struck first, springing forward like a viper and swinging her bladed heel at the Wolf's head.

Fenrir blocked the strike just in time, the Svartalfarmium blades clashing with Melanie's own in a shower of sparks. Fenrir brought his other arm around and swung at the girl, but she gracefully twirled in mid-air to avoid the slash.

The missed strike left Fenrir's left side exposed. Miltia capitalised on this weak point and raked her claws across Fenrir's mid-section.

The Grimm snarled in pain, swinging round as Miltia passed him to fire off a couple of shots at his attacker. The sound of the revolver firing echoed loudly in the narrow alley-way. To Fenrir's shock, Miltia expertly dodged the Dust Bullets, and actually deflected the last one with her blades. The round sailed off course and hit the wall behind her.

With Fenrir's attention on the girl in red, he was too late to stop Melanie pinning down his hand with her heel, then using her other foot to deliver a brutal kick to Fenrir's mouth. The blow snapped Fenrir's head backwards and he fell to the floor, quickly getting back up and rolling out of the way as Miltia stabbed her blades into the ground where Fenrir had just been laying.

He fired off more shots from his revolver, just to give himself some breathing room from the relentless pair. The twins dodged and deflected the bullets effortlessly and immediately pounced on Fenrir. The Grimm was caught in a lock, his right arm braced against Miltia's blades, and his left holding back Melanie's heel.

Acting fast, Fenrir brought his boot up to kick Melanie in the gut. To his relief, he was able to make contact, forcing the air out of the girl's lungs with an audible and satisfying gasp. With one girl down, Fenrir quickly turned his attention to the other.

Swinging his blades round, Fenrir knocked Miltia's claws off of him and began a vicious assault on the red-dressed girl. Miltia's defence was solid, her blades quickly parrying and blocking Fenrir's brutal blows, sparks flying off everywhere. The Alpha couldn't afford to focus too much on small details, but he did notice small flecks of red paint starting to float in the air, and Miltia's blades were gradually starting to look less and less pristine.

But once again, Fenrir was attacked from behind, Melanie having recovered her lost oxygen and re-joining her sister, hitting Fenrir square on the back with both heels, then bouncing off him like a springboard.

The sudden attack sent Fenrir forward, leaving himself wide-open to the other twin. Miltia pirouetted around the Alpha and elbowed him on the back of his skull. These combined attacks had Fenrir once again on the floor, a familiar taste of copper starting to build in his mouth.

" _Damn! These two are good."_ Fenrir couldn't help but note.

It was like the two really were reflections of each other, their moves designed to flow into one another's seamlessly.

This didn't quell Fenrir's rage in the slightest.

Willing his gradually aching body to get up, Fenrir rotated and once again fired his revolvers at the two. The duo continued to dodge and dive out of the way of the bullets, distancing themselves from the Wolf in the process.

Which was just what he wanted.

Waiting for just the right moment, Fenrir leaped up high into the air and descended Blades-first onto Miltia.

The shorter-haired twin looked up to see a predator quickly descending upon her, blue eyes shining with an intense drive to maim and mangle.

She hopped out of the way, causing Frostbite to be driven fully into the concrete floor. The twins felt a twinge of surprise when they saw all the cracks that now covered the floor from Fenrir's impact with the ground.

Though what they failed to catch was Fenrir's borderline sadistic grin. With a mighty heave, Fenrir brought his claws up through the ground, sending large chunks of the ground all over the place.

Miltia was caught with a full blast of the debris, forcing her to shield her eyes. Not wasting the opportunity, Fenrir charged forward and slashed his claws across Miltia's face. The girl tried to block the oncoming strike, but Fenrir was using all of his brute strength now, and practically punched through the meagre defence.

Frostbite earned its keep once again when Miltia was sent reeling back from the blow. Her cheek stung from the blades slashing across her face, and she felt a sizable chunk of her Aura get taken off.

Melanie gave the barest hint of a scowl at the sight of her sister being hit by the wolf. She charged to meet the Grimm, now no longer caring how bad she hurt this guy.

Fenrir was ready and intercepted Melanie's heel with his blades. Fighting against someone who primarily used their feet was proving to be an interesting challenge for the Beowolf. Her footwork was faster than his, and she was a great deal more flexible than he was, his frame simply being too bulky to try and replicate the moves she was using.

Meanwhile, Miltia scrambled back to her feet, looking up to catch her sister and the wolf engaged in a vicious back-and-forth. Clangs and shrieks of metal blades sliding against each other echoed through the alleyway as the pair fought, along with the occasional enraged grunt as her twin landed a few hits. Fenrir grabbed Melanie by an outstretched heel and pulled her towards himself, quickly shoving the barrel of his revolver under her chin. The gun roared as Fenrir fired point-blank at Melanie's jaw.

The sudden burst of kinetic energy sent the girl up into the air, just for Fenrir to quickly smash her into the ground, driving his elbow into her centre. Rolling away, Fenrir crouched low and prepared to bring the pain on the downed girl.

Only to be blind-sided by Miltia who hit him with an uppercut that nearly made him bite his own tongue. In a panic, Fenrir fired off multiple shots from his revolvers, trying to keep his opponent back. Miltia had already retreated however, moving to help her sister back to her feet. Once the two were both standing, they both attacked Fenrir as one, the Grimm having only just recovered from the pain of Miltia's claws.

All the while, Phthalo watched on, helpless as Fenrir desperately struggled against the two skilled fighters. Fenrir was stronger than the both of them, if it was just one girl, Theo knew the wolf would wipe the floor with them. But both of them, the boy wasn't so sure. Anytime Fenrir was able to get a hit on one, the other would get him while his back was turned. Trying to give himself breathing room wasn't working either, these girls were serious about bringing him down now.

A heel to the back of his head.

A slash across his stomach.

A foot sweep that brought down one of his ankles.

A straight jab to his nose.

Gradually, Theo started to notice a change in Fenrir as the fight played out. He was getting angrier. The more damage he took, the more his face twisted into a look of fury, the more his swings became wild and unfocused, the more his voice started to turn from yells and grunts, to roars and howls.

For just a second, the winged boy caught a glimpse of the twins faces. At the start of the fight, the two had seemed incredibly bored to the boy. But now, now the two of them looked a little concerned with how much Fenrir was snarling and spitting at them. At one point, Fenrir got his blades stuck in a wall from trying to hit the girl in the white dress. Rather than just pull them out normally, Fenrir roared and instead, dragged his claws through the wall, sending bricks and cement flying everywhere.

Unbeknownst to all of them however, a certain henchman was steadily climbing out of the realm of unconsciousness, his groans becoming lost amidst the sounds of battle.

Stumbling forward from a literal stab in the back from Miltia, Fenrir lurched into a dumpster. Gasping, Fenrir gripped tightly onto the dumpster, his fingers denting the metal underneath.

" _Will these two just_ _ **die already!"**_ Fenrir's darkening mind roared loudly in his skull.

Throwing finesse and technique to the wind, Fenrir picked up the dumpster, swung round, and smashed the heavy lump of rusting metal into the ground. Both girls dodged out of the way, but Fenrir wasn't stopping. He shoved the dumpster towards Melanie, intending to pin her against the wall.

In an annoyingly impressive display of acrobatics however, Melanie stepped up onto the wall itself, bracing her hands against the lid of the dumpster, flipped, and brought her heel down on to the crown of Fenrir's skull.

Following up, Melanie pounced off the dumpster and pinned Fenrir down by his throat, her blades digging into his windpipe.

"Stay down." Melanie commanded, trying to hide the fact she was a little out of breath.

Rather than do that, Fenrir gripped at the foot that was currently pinning him down. His rage had all but blinded him at this point, he could barely even remember WHY he was fighting these two.

But then, amidst the pounding in his ears, a gentle yet powerful voice cut through the chaos and snapped the Grimm back to his senses.

" _Calm your mind Fenrir!"_ The voice commanded, _"Use your Aura, it will help you win this fight."_

Fenrir's breathing slowed slightly. His Aura was still highly unreliable. He'd only be able to use it for a few seconds before he'd go back to how he was before.

Still, given Melanie's close proximity, a few precious seconds might be all he needed.

" _No choice… I've gotta risk it!"_

So, with a great amount of effort, Fenrir closed his eyes and quickly brought up that familiar, calming image. The forests of Remnant stood proud and healthy in his mind's eye.

The effect was almost instantaneous.

Melanie, Miltia and Theo all stood in shock and awe as Fenrir suddenly glowed bright blue, the ground beneath him steadily covered by a thin layer of frost. And when his eyes open, they were the most startling shade of icy blue that the twins had ever seen.

"RRRAAAAAGGGHHH!"

With a yell, Fenrir shoved the bladed heel off his throat, sending Melanie stumbling backwards from the surprising strength.

" _He's gotten stronger!"_

Was the last coherent thought Melanie had before she was sent careening into a world of pain. Quicker than anyone could blink, Fenrir had gotten back to his feet and punched the girl right in the sternum. The wind was completely knocked out of the white-dressed girl, the four blades suddenly ice-cold against her chest as they tried to rip through her Aura.

Stepping forward, Fenrir roared in rage as he shoved Melanie away with all his might. Due to the burst his Aura provided, Melanie was sent rocketing backwards, crashing hard into the dumpster the Grimm had just been using as a weapon. The metal practically collapsed in on itself, creating an almost make-shift chair for the barely conscious twin.

Theo's jaw nearly unhinged itself at the sight. The tables had turned, so sharply in such a short span of time. Now Fenrir was standing tall, body wreathed in an icy blue haze, chilly white mist pouring from his mouth, the temperature of the alleyway plummeting as he snapped his head towards a stunned Miltia.

But already, Fenrir was starting to feel that familiar pain start to build in his gut.

" _Running out of time… Gotta move!"_

Trying his best to ignore the growing pain, Fenrir charged forward, funnelling every last drop of his Aura into his legs.

He disappeared into a flurry of Snowflakes.

Again, far too quick for any normal human to have a hope of reacting, Fenrir was inches away from Miltia, and delivered a downright ugly kick to the side of her head. The girl couldn't decide which was worse; the pain of the blow, or the icy bite left behind.

Not stopping to breathe, Fenrir continued his lightning fast assault, the Alpha hit at any part of Miltia's body he could hit, the pounding in his head growing louder and louder.

Finally, Fenrir hit her with a cross that sent her slamming into the wall, cement chips becoming dislodged from the impact.

Sadly, Fenrir was all out of time.

With a pained yell, Fenrir let the blue Aura disappear from his form, the withdrawal leaving him hunched over, panting heavily.

The whole power surge had lasted a total of seven seconds.

To the Wolf's tired frustration, Miltia was still not out of the fight. She was still reeling from the sudden beating, but it was clear she wasn't out of the fight yet.

" _Come on… come on you useless lump of flesh!"_ He chastised… himself, _"Get up and finish this,_ _ **she's not dead yet!"**_

Staring down at her clawed arms, Fenrir saw little chips had been taken out from where they had clashed with Frostbite. Deciding he was done playing nice, the Beowolf used what little strength he had left and hurled his aching body forward.

At breakneck speed, Fenrir grabbed Miltia by her wrist, yanked her down hard, and with a great cry of resolve, he brought his blades down hard on Miltia's claws.

The claws on her right arm shattered like glass, metal shards flying everywhere. The girl was aghast at the sight of her trusted weapons being broken, snapped apart like they were made of wood.

Staring down at the broken pieces of blade, Fenrir felt a sudden moment of clarity pass over him. The melodic voice rang in his head like a great bell.

" _Fire off a shot just as you punch her,"_ It advised, _"That should take her out."_

The Grimm recalled Yang using such a move with her own Gauntlets when in the sparring ring. It definitely knocked her opponents sideways more often than not.

So, with a final burst of energy, Fenrir pressed the pads on his gloves, making his blades retreat back into the casing they were housed in. Shoving himself right into Miltia's personal space, he reeled his fist back, and socked her right on the nose.

Right as his fist connected, the Grimm fired off one last blast from his revolver, the flash from the muzzle blinding him temporarily.

The recoil was so great, Fenrir's arm was knocked backwards. Still, the result was a welcome one, the blast sent Miltia straight through the wall, chunks of concrete crumbling down into the newly made hole. The Alpha made out a dark red haze in the gloom that quickly fizzled away, and he knew that this girl was definitely down and out.

" _Okay… one down… now for…"_

Fenrir's thoughts were cut off and rendered illegible once he received a sharp kick to his jaw that sent him almost to the floor.

Melanie had gotten back to her feet just in time to see the Grimm shoot her sister through the grey concrete wall. On the outside, she was cool as usual, but inside she was fuming. No one hurt her sister and got away with it.

So, with a lethal elegance, the girl had launched herself up onto the nearby wall, and ran across it. Once she'd closed the gap between the Wolf Faunus and herself, she kicked off the wall and drove her heel into the boy's cheek.

Whoever this guy was, he could clearly take a hit, having all this damage done to him and yet still, his Aura hadn't broken. So it was, that as soon as Melanie touched back down onto the ground, she propelled herself into the air again, and wrapped her thighs in a crushing grip around Fenrir's head.

Shifting her centre of gravity, Melanie twirled in the air and brought the Boy crashing down to the floor.

Fenrir's skull pounded as he impacted hard with the solid floor. When his vision returned, he found himself gazing up at the steely scowl of the meaner Malachite. Before either combatant could try and gain an advantage, a high-pitched voice called out to them, stopping them in their tracks.

"Fenrir!" Phthalo yelled, bouncing on the balls of his feet in apprehension, "The bad guys getting away!"

Snapping his head to where the boy was pointing, the Grimm felt his heart leap into his throat as he saw the man named Tommy making a run for the exit. The sight of Tommy's retreating back made Fenrir snap back to his current situation.

His priority wasn't fighting the twins, it was making sure his prey didn't escape him.

So despite the protests his muscles were giving, he lurched back to his feet, shoved past a distracted Melanie, dragged his feet through the tarmac, and tried to catch up to the suited goon.

For a moment, he feared he wouldn't catch the guy. His Aura was barely holding on, and his body was no doubt covered in bruises. But a blessing came in the form of Phthalo using his wings to propel himself ahead of the Grimm, and latch onto Tommy's back like a python.

The older man thrashed in an attempt to get the child off of him, but he might as well hadn't have bothered. The distraction allowed Fenrir to tackle Tommy back to the ground, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back, letting the unspoken threat linger in the air.

 _Move, and I break it_.

"Get off me!" The man yelled, "I'm not telling you anything. You can all go to hell!"

"You alright Theo?" Fenrir asked, ignoring the man completely.

"Yeah!" Phthalo nodded, shaking a little from the adrenaline rush.

When he was sure the goon underneath him wasn't about to go for another botched escape attempt, the Grimm looked behind him to see what his former opponents were up to. To his surprise, Melanie had walked over to help her sister climb out of the rubble that had once been a wall.

Looking back and forth between the two girls and the haggard man, Fenrir frowned in deep thought.

" _They want this guy for some reason,"_ He thought, _"And they don't seem like they're part of the Red Hand."_

Figuring he didn't have it in him to continue this little scrap, he straightened himself up and addressed the pair.

"Hey!" He called out, his harsh voice commanding their attention, "You say this guy works for you, you said he stole something, what is it?"

Melanie just scowled at the Wolf, making her intentions clear that she would not speak to him. Miltia on the other hand, looked up at her sister, expression unsure, before she stood up as neatly as she could.

"He stole our boss's private funds, a big safe." She explained, "We need him to tell us what he did with it."

"What was in the safe?" Fenrir asked.

He instantly regretted saying that, when the two girls and even Theo gave him a look that gave the impression they were wondering if Fenrir had gone deaf suddenly.

"Lien, what else you idiot?" Melanie asked derisively.

" _Ah, right."_ Fenrir winced, _"Human's currency is very important to them. Forgot about that."_

The Beowolf looked back down at the silently cursing man, ears tilting on the top of his head as he weighed the choices he could take at this juncture.

" _I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to bet my tail that this guy gave this safe full of Lien to his new Boss. Maybe… Perhaps…"_

Looking at it, even if he took the slowest pace possible, his Aura wouldn't be fully replenished by the time he got to wherever the Red Hand were hiding, meaning his chances of victory were… less than ideal.

So, perhaps having some extra hands on board would be beneficial to him right now. Besides, he already knew the pair could fight, and fight really well, so it wasn't like they'd slow him down.

" _If anything, it's more likely I'll slow them down, what with my Aura still being incredibly temperamental. Though, probably shouldn't tell them that."_

His decision made, Fenrir hoisted the goon back to his feet and, in a move that surprised the twins, chucked the man towards their feet.

"Go on then," He said gruffly, folding his arms and leaning against the least dirty wall, "Ask him what you want to know."

The pair didn't move, trying to figure out whether or not they were being had.

"Why?" Melanie leered.

"I have a feeling you and I are after the same thing," Fenrir explained, "Tommy here, is in with the Red Hand, kidnapping Faunus for them so they can kill them, or turn them into slaves, one or the other. I think he's probably given your safe to them. If we work together, maybe we can all get what we want today."

The twins eyed him sceptically. They were both less than eager to join forces with a guy who had been fighting them so viciously mere seconds ago. Though, neither of them could deny that they were a little battered themselves. If they were going to get back their stolen money today, they needed the extra muscle.

The two shared a look, coming to a decision without words [Unnerving the two male onlookers], and then nodded their heads in unison. Miltia leaned down to start interrogating Tommy, while Melanie moved to stand closer to the disguised Alpha, keeping her eyes trained on his arms to make sure there was no sudden movement.

"You try anything," She warned, "We'll finish this right away."

Fenrir scowled but said no more. Meanwhile, Phthalo scrunched up his nose as he came to a realisation of his own.

"Wait a minute," He said, "If you're all after the same thing, wasn't this whole fight entirely pointless?"

Melanie said nothing to the truthful statement, Fenrir just shrugged his shoulders.

"I wouldn't say that." Fenrir said, grinning slightly, "I found it quite invigorating. Plus, I'm sure it was fun to watch."

This comment earned him smouldering glares from both girls and a small giggle from Phthalo. Shaking her head, Miltia returned her attention to the profusely sweating goon.

"Last chance Tommy," She said, her tone now back to its usual bored self, "Tell us where you took the money, and you might get out of this with all your limbs."

The man appeared hesitant, but then he looked around him. At Miltia, her two remaining blades pointed straight at his throat. At Melanie who was looking more than a little annoyed. And finally at the black and blue haired Wolf Faunus whose Aura had made the whole alleyway feel like it was in the middle of winter.

Even he could tell he was utterly beat here.

"Lady Vatn has it." He admitted reluctantly, "She has her own group hiding out on a decommissioned cargo ship, down by the docks."

"Was this before or after you started kidnapping Faunus for them?" Fenrir asked off to the side.

"Oh shut up you mangy dog!" Tommy said hatefully, "They have the right idea you know; your kind are nothing, but animals and you shouldn't even breathe the same air as the rest of us!"

Fenrir's hackles raised at the comment, even Phthalo flared his wings in anger. Melanie and Miltia both gave unimpressed looks to Tommy.

"If he attacks you, we won't stop him you know." Miltia pointed out, making the older man gulp, "Now, what's the name of the ship?"

"… The lady of the lake." He answered, "It's an older ship, painted blue."

"Thank you," Miltia said disingenuously, "Now go to sleep."

Before Tommy could ask what she meant by that, Miltia cocked her fist back and punched the man, knocking him out cold. Dusting off her hands and readjusting her fur shoulder-wrap, Miltia stood up and gestured to the unconscious thug.

"Do whatever you want to him," She said flatly, "It's not like he's working for us anymore."

The Beowolf stared down at the passed out slime ball, his mind already conjuring up various, detailed ways he could make this guy pay for his earlier comments. But like many times before, the soft voice was there to steer him away from his more malicious thoughts.

" _He's had enough,"_ It whispered, _"Time is of the essence Fenrir, we should move on."_

Sighing in disappointment, Fenrir blew a tuft of air away from his eyes and gave his two new group members a questioning glance.

"I don't suppose either of you have some rope I can use?"

…..

Theo stood awkwardly between the twin girls who didn't appear remotely interested in him, whilst Fenrir stood off to the side, talking on his scroll with a police officer he'd met earlier that day. At his feet, a still unconscious Tommy was propped up against a lamppost, his wrists tied together with a piece of rope Fenrir had scavenged out of a trashcan.

The group had been given a couple of looks from people passing by, but a few intimidating stares from the twins had quickly sent them on their way. The blue-haired boy still wasn't sure about the two, to be truthful they did scare him a little. Still, Fenrir had assured him they wouldn't try anything, and if they did, he'd put a stop to them.

"So, why's that wolf guy hanging out with a kid like you?"

The sudden question made Phthalo jolt upwards. Looking up, he saw that the girl in the red dress was the one talking to him. The look she was giving him made him feel puny, like a worm she'd stumbled across on the street.

"Umm, well uh…" Phthalo mumbled, finding it hard to look the woman in the eye and really wishing that Fenrir would finish his talk on the Scroll.

"We… ummm…. We met before. I helped him fight those Red Hand bad guys before. He's my friend."

On the other side, Melanie just scoffed at the childish answer.

"And how does a nine year old help a guy like THAT fight terrorists?"

"Hey!" Theo pouted, "I'm ten. I'll be eleven in a few months."

This fact did little to diminish the unimpressed looks he received from the pair. Phthalo huffed and crossed his arms, looking down at the floor and kicking at some loose pebbles.

"So yeah, that's basically the whole story." Fenrir finished up his explanation, turning to look down at the prone form of Tommy.

"Had already figured it was one of Xiong's boys." Jacob said gruffly on the other end of the line, "Though I hadn't been expecting the part where the guy actually robbed his ex-boss. Not sure if it's better or worse that Xiong had nothing to do with this."

"Xiong…" Fenrir paused before nodding his head in understanding, "I'm guessing that he's the guy you were talking about earlier?"

"Yeah," Jacob said dryly, "Mr Hei Xiong. Or as he's more commonly known: 'Junior', but I refuse to call him that because it's stupid. The guys the same age as me for god's sake!"

"So, did he tell you anything?" Fenrir asked.

"No, he was his usual sunny self and wouldn't tell me a thing about what was going on." The Sergeant explained, "All he would say was that he already had people 'Taking care of it'."

The Alpha looked at the twins who were staring down another unfortunate soul who was trying to pass by them.

"Yeah, I think I know what he was talking about there."

To his slight surprise, Barley laughed.

"Ah, I see you met the Malachite twins." The older man surmised, "Yeah, those two are a real piece of work. I imagine they gave you a hard time."

By this point, Fenrir had re-joined the group who could now hear the conversation going on.

"I held my own." Fenrir said, shooting a lazy grin at the twins who just scowled at him in return.

"Right, well interesting story aside," Jacob cut in, "I'll send a squad car over to your location, I'll want a chat with this guy myself."

"Okay." Fenrir agreed, "While you're doing that, I'm going to check out this place Tommy mentioned."

"W-wait!" Jacob started, "If you already know where the Red Hand are, we should go in together! We'll have a better shot of getting them that way."

As Fenrir listened to the Sergeant's idea, his frown deepened. Phthalo could just see the teen's grip on his scroll tighten.

"I'll call you when I'm done." He said through gritted teeth.

"Fenrir wai…"

The Beowolf closed his Scroll sharply and stuffed it in his back pocket. Far away, Jacob Barley looked up at the ceiling and simply muttered 'Huntsmen'. Fenrir knew that his decision was most likely a foolish one.

But this was HIS mission, it had been given it to him. So it was his job to make sure it was carried out his way.

With his call finished, he looked at the twins and at Phthalo. He recalled how he'd wanted to do this by himself, even leaving Jade behind so he wouldn't be slowed down by someone who couldn't fight. But, the twins had already proven they could fight, and Fenrir most likely wouldn't be back to full strength by the time they found the Red Hand, so their help wasn't so much wanted as it was needed.

As for Phthalo, well he couldn't just leave him by himself. That and he had shown some surprising initiative by diving and helping slow down Tommy when he tried to escape.

"Alright!" He addressed the group, "We can leave this guy for the cops, let's go find that ship he was talking about."

"We can't go yet." Melanie said dully, "Miltia needs a new pair of blades. Some dog broke her last pair."

Fenrir frowned, but relented, not wanting to start a fight in the middle of the street. So, they carried on waiting for a few more minutes before eventually, a jet black sedan pulled up on the other side of the road. Fenrir did a double-take when he saw the driver step out of the vehicle. The guy was wearing the exact same suit Tommy was wearing, even sporting the same red sunglasses Fenrir had found earlier. The only obvious difference between the two was that Tommy had a moustache, but this guy just had a soul patch.

"Ms Malachite." The man addressed professionally before offering a silver briefcase to Miltia.

The girl took the case without so much as a thank you, and then dismissed the man who returned to his car. Meanwhile, Fenrir and Theo looked on in stunned confusion.

"How do they tell them all apart?" Fenrir whispered.

"Maybe they're robots." Theo suggested, eyes wide with wonder. Fenrir just shook his head.

" _A machine that looks exactly like a Human. I don't even want to think about that, that's just too insane."_

Miltia removed the broken blades from her arms, including the ones that were only chipped, and placed four new ones in their place. After tossing the forlorn blades and the case into a trash-bin, Miltia gave a miniscule nod and Fenrir took that as his cue to set off.

The group of four walked purposefully through the streets, Fenrir wincing a little as he felt his Aura gradually start to repair the damage he'd taken. It wouldn't be long before they reached the harbour, and Fenrir still had a few hours left before his time was up and he had to go back to Beacon, so he wasn't in a huge rush.

Still, this down time did give him a chance to go over some things.

" _That's the first time I've used my Aura in an actual fight."_ Fenrir realised, _"It's definitely powerful, but that time limit is a problem. Really hope Ozpin was right and that will improve with time, otherwise it might be more trouble than it's worth."_

As they walked along, occasionally having to file into a line due to the sidewalk not being wide enough for all four of them, Fenrir's eyes flitted towards Miltia who was on his left. On closer inspection, Fenrir thought he could make out newspaper headlines printed on the dress.

" _Odd… design… choice…"_

Stepping over that, Fenrir took a moment to look at the blades with a closer eye. They were certainly quite intimidating to look at, though it didn't seem like they could retract like Fenrir's could.

"What?!"

A sharp voice made the wolf's head snap up and look into the annoyed face of Miltia. Feeling like he'd been caught, Fenrir looked away and scratched the back of his head, tail curling slightly from the awkward tension he'd just made.

"Um, nothing." He grumbled, "Just uh… those claws of yours are very… sleek."

Fenrir hated small talk. He didn't know what to say, and that was never more evident than right this second. The look he got from Miltia made him sorely tempted to either run ahead of them or just find some dark corner to hide in.

"Right…" Miltia drawled, giving the Grimm a dismal look.

"You don't get out much do you?" Melanie asked not in a nice way.

"…Not so much, no." Fenrir winced, looking back at Theo who was flying behind him. He mouthed 'Help me!' at the boy who just shrugged his shoulders at him. He was too intimidated to try and talk to these girls.

"Uhh, I just meant that…" Fenrir stammered as the pair continued to make him feel like he was under a heat-lamp, "You both fought really well earlier. I was impressed. Much better than any of those Red Hand thugs I've faced, you'd probably give my friends a hard time if you ever fought them."

Fenrir was almost manic-looking by the end of his statement, the stress to not look like any more of an idiot making him rush his words. The twins just shared another look after the Alpha was done rambling, and then rolled their eyes and walked forward in unison.

"What-ever."

At first, the twins had been slightly afraid of this guy, he was brutal in battle and he clearly had no restraint on his temper. But now, it seemed like the boy was the textbook definition of socially awkward. It did diminish his fear factor quite a bit.

Fenrir wilted at the sight of the two retreating backs, lamenting the days when he never interacted with Humans outside of fights to the death.

" _Maybe it's for the best that nearly everyone hates me at Beacon. It means there's fewer chances to embarrass myself."_

Deciding to just shut up for the rest of the journey, Fenrir trailed at the back, hand shoved in his pockets and scowling at everyone within his eyeline. Eventually, Fenrir turned to see how Phthalo was doing.

To his surprise, the little blue-haired boy actually looked kind of down. He'd stopped flying and was now walking on the ground with the rest of them. He was staring at the floor and appeared to be in quite the conflict with himself.

"What's up Theo?" Fenrir whispered so as to not catch the twins attention.

"Oh, nothing." Theo mumbled, failing to even look Fenrir in the eye.

The wolf simply continued to stare at the boy until eventually, the pressure grew too much and the boy spoke again.

"Are you sure you need me here?" He asked nervously, "I can just go home if you think I'll get in the way."

Fenrir stared confused at the boy's question. Phthalo hadn't hindered his progress yet, so why did he think he was in the way? Shaking his head, the Beowolf addressed the boy's worries as clearly as he could.

"I've already told you Theo, I'm not leaving you out here by yourself," Fenrir explained, "Once my business here is finished, I'll take you straight back home. As long as you continue to follow my orders, you won't be in the way at all."

Theo nodded along, though he didn't appear to be in higher spirits than before. Clearly, something else was bothering him. Fenrir was about to ask what, but it seems Phthalo had already decided to keep talking.

"I wish I could have helped out, in the alley against those girls." Theo whispered, gripping the ends of his light blue hoodie.

" _Ah, that's what's REALLY bothering him."_ Fenrir thought, " _He wants to be a fighter, but he isn't even fully matured yet. Scary how much I can relate to that."_

"You want to be a fighter?" He asked lightly, lips tugging upwards slightly.

"Yeah!" Phthalo exclaimed, wings fanning out a bit in excitement, "The Red Hand might be scary, but they're still bad guys. When I'm older, I want be a hero so I can fight people like that. I've always loved reading about those super-strong heroes in comics who keep the world safe and fight villains, no matter how bad they are. The Huntsman are like, real-life superheroes, so I'm going to become a Huntsman too, like you!"

Fenrir's warm smile dimmed at that last part. Peoples insistence that he was a Huntsman was just depressing to him now. It just reminded him that his whole identity now was just one big lie. The truth was, he was the farthest thing from a Huntsman. But he couldn't ever tell anyone outside of Beacon that, especially not someone like the young bird-Faunus. He knew that if he did, the yellow-eyed boy would never look at him the same way again. He might even become terrified of him, or hate him.

That unsettled Fenrir greatly.

"I'm not a Huntsman." He said brusquely, now being the one who couldn't look his conversation partner in the eye.

The two walked in silence for a bit, Phthalo wondering if he'd said something wrong and fretting quietly.

"You won't become a great warrior overnight." Fenrir said suddenly, "It will take time, and a great deal of training. For right now, you're still just a child, you still have room to grow. Give it time Theo, your time will come quicker than you think it will."

Phthalo frowned a little at the words he'd heard quite a few times from other adults. Though his smile did return when Fenrir said he would get his chance to be a hero. It showed, in the boy's opinion, that he believed in him and that he felt like Theo absolutely could become a Huntsman one day.

Feeling a little better, Phthalo took to the air again, Fenrir watching out of the corner of his eye, happy that the boy was out of his funk.

…

The smell of saltwater clued Fenrir in that they were approaching their destination. From here they needed to all be extremely careful. Not long after the smell, Fenrir's sixth sense started spiking like crazy, meaning the Red Hand were definitely here. He didn't even think he'd need to check the name of the ship they were looking for, he just had to look for where the negative energy was the strongest.

The others, however, did not have this supernatural talent, so they would have to just go by the name of the ship they were given by Tommy. Following Melanie's suggestion to keep a low profile, the group of four stealthily made their way through the harbour, keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of red masks or human-sized cages.

As they walked further along the Harbour [And the Negative energy got stronger], they noticed that fewer people were walking about, after a while not even sailors could be seen. Upon turning a corner, it became clear they had entered a section of the harbour that was saved for decommissioned ships, giant lumps of rusting metal sitting dry-docked, far from the public eye.

" _The perfect hiding place. And there it is."_

Instantly, Fenrir had spotted the ship they were looking for. A great, big, ugly blue thing that sat close to the side, a bunch of planks connecting it to the harbour wall so people could still climb aboard. He could also make out shapes that resembled Human figures walking about on the ship, which caused him to quickly grab the twins and shove all four of them behind a shipping container.

"What do you think you're doing!" Melanie seethed, seconds away from driving her heel into the Wolf's throat.

"Red Hand!" Was Fenrir's sharp reply, "I spotted them, they're on that ship over there."

Carefully peering round the containers edge, the group looked around and soon spotted the ship Fenrir had been talking about. The name of the ship was emblazoned on the side, the white paint peeling from age, but impossible to misinterpret.

 _The lady of the lake_

"Such a pretty name for an ugly ship." Miltia remarked softly.

"I can't tell how many people there are." Fenrir said, squinting to try and see just how guarded this base was. But it was no good, they were too far away and none of them were carrying binoculars.

"Does it matter?" Melanie asked haughtily, "The Red Hand are nothing but pests. We'll just go in, knock some heads, get our money back while you find your fellow Faunus friends, then never speak to each other again."

Fenrir frowned as he looked back up at the ship. Charging in blindly would have been a plan he would've agreed with at the start of the year. But after spending a considerable amount of time around people like Weiss, he'd learnt that the Grimm's tactics might not actually be as full-proof as he'd believed them to be.

" _We don't know what we're walking into here. For all I know, Grendel could be on that ship. We need to find another way."_

"Come on Miltia," Melanie said after receiving silence from Fenrir, "Let's get this over with."

"Wait!" Fenrir hissed, snapping his head backwards to peer into some nearby shadows, "I want to check it out first, wait here!"

Melanie looked like she wanted to argue, but Fenrir had already dashed off. Slinking down to all fours, Fenrir moved from crate to crate, finding any dark spot he could as he made his way closer and closer towards the ship. It was close to four o'clock the last time Fenrir had checked his scroll, but there were a few dark spots he could take advantage of. As he drew steadily nearer to 'The lady of the lake', he could make out a few more figures pacing about on the ship, including someone who wasn't masked. A dark-skinned male with a huge club slung over his shoulders and an expression like he'd just smelt something truly foul.

" _I think I'm starting to sense a pattern here. The masked guys are fodder, it's the ones who aren't masked I need to watch out for."_

"You done scouting?" A cold voice whispered.

Whirling round to face his fellow snooper, Fenrir frowned when he saw Miltia had followed him. He pointed a clawed finger towards the crate that he hoped Phthalo and Melanie were still hiding behind.

"Go back to the others." He ordered.

"I don't take orders from you." Miltia rebutted, "Me and my sister have our own reasons for being here, and we don't trust you."

Fenrir shut his eyes as he felt his temper flare at the twins obstinate objection. After letting out a deep breath, Fenrir gave one last scathing look to the other claw user and moved closer to the ship, not checking if Miltia was following him or not.

Finally coming round to the other side of the massive Freighter, Fenrir got a better look at the planks that allowed entry to the ship. They looked old and weathered, but still sturdy enough to support a person walking across them. Looking up at the stone grey walls that boxed them in the small area, Fenrir could guess that to the untrained eye, this place would look very unassuming. So in that sense, this was the perfect hiding place for a criminal organisation such as the Red Hand.

Now being as close as he could get to the ship without being spotted, Fenrir could see that there were maybe about a dozen or so masked men acting as lookout. Of course, that was just what he could tell from his eyes, his negativity radar told him that there were still quite a few Humans skulking about on that ship that he couldn't see.

"We done here?" Miltia asked, not even looking at the ship and instead checking her nails, "There's hardly anyone there, this'll be easy."

"There's more," Fenrir whispered, "Underneath, inside the ship."

"And how do you know that?"

Rather than say he could sense the malice and hate coming from the depths of the enormous hunk of metal, Fenrir looked at Miltia and tapped the side of his nose.

"I can smell them."

The girl frowned, doubting that Fenrir's nose was that good. The Beowolf held his hand up to his mouth and hummed in thought.

"We have to find a way to draw them all out, bring everyone topside." Fenrir muttered, "I'll have a better chance of beating them out in the open."

"Not a fan of indoor spaces?" Miltia asked sarcastically.

"They're not my area of expertise." Fenrir responded in a clipped tone.

The Grimm continued to stare at the ship, increasingly aware of his dwindling time left to pursue this. Narrowing his vision, Fenrir could make out the shadowed sillohuete of the shipping crate where Melanie and Phthalo were no doubt growing impatient.

It was as he remembered the other two, an idea came to the Grimm.

"Miltia?" He asked slowly, "Has your boss had any… encounters with the Red Hand before today?"

To his surprise and relief, Miltia actually thought about his request rather than issue another scathing remark. After a moment, Miltia shook her head.

"This would be the first time we've had to bother with them since they showed up in Vale, so no."

"So he hasn't declared for one side or the other?" Fenrir said, more for confirmation of his suspicions.

"I guess," The girl said with a shrug of her shoulders, "Junior generally doesn't do deals with cults or terrorists. It's bad for business apparently, narrows the list of potential clients."

" _I understood most of what was said there, so that's good enough for me."_

Now fully set on the plan in his mind, Fenrir rolled his shoulders and grinned at the girl next to him, unnerving her slightly with how forced it appeared to be.

"Okay, I have a plan." The Alpha pointed to the scroll attached to Miltia's hip, "I need you to message Melanie and Theo, they'll need to know what's going on, we'll need their help."

"Help with what?" Miltia asked hesitantly, thrown off slightly at the sight of the Faunus unstrapping his Gauntlets from his arms and setting them down on the floor.

The Grimm just continued to grin as he looked at Miltia expectantly, presenting his bare wrists to her.

"Simple, you're going to hand me over to the Red Hand. I'm your prisoner."

…..

"HEY, IS THIS WHERE THE RED HAND I'VE HEARD SO MUCH ABOUT ARE HIDING!"

The sudden yell made Coal Umbra's sneer deepen as he unstrapped his club from off his back. Stomping along the metal walkway that ran across the whole ship, the burly man shoved the smaller, masked figures out of his way. When he came up to the side of the ship that was closest to the Harbour wall, he was met with the sight of a short-haired girl in a red dress, pointing a pair of blood-red claws at the neck of a tall wolf-Faunus wearing a thick leather jacket. Looking down revealed the Wolf's hands were tied together with cargo rope.

"Who the hell are you?!" Coal yelled down at the pair, the girl looking thoroughly unimpressed with his commanding tone.

"Miltiades Malachite!" She yelled back at the man, "Though you're probably more familiar with my boss, Junior? Heard you guys have been giving rewards out to people who bring you Faunus to torture. Well, got a big one for you right here."

Miltia emphasised her point by jabbing at Fenrir's neck with her blades. Fenrir growled a little, but remained silent. He was far from a full-fledged Thespian, so he figured it best to keep his mouth shut.

At least, until the time was write to give the signal.

Coal glared down at the pair as all around him, several Red Hand members held their crude weapons by their sides, some of them recognising the elegantly dressed girl. Before he could make a decision, a shrill, crazed voice tore through the air and made the man shut his eyes in gradually building frustration.

"Coal! What's going on?" A blue-haired girl asked, jumping up alongside the taller man, "Did a seagull steal your lunch or something? What are you…"

The girl stopped asking Coal questions as she too saw the strange pair looking pair staring up at them. Her look of surprise quickly shifted to a manic grin as she locked eyes with the Wolf Faunus.

"OOO! I think I recognise that dog. Oh, quick Coal, jump us down there!" The girl exclaimed, shaking Coal's arms in excitement.

"Cobalt, would you shut up!" Coal snapped, already annoyed with the girl's presence. Rather than back down, the girl scowled with an air of unhinged anger coming off her that even Fenrir could feel.

"Take us down there. Now." She hissed.

The man rolled his eyes, but seemed to relent to the girls quickly rising temper.

" _Well, it's nice to see this group has a lot of well-adjusted, mentally stable professionals running the place."_ Miltia thought sarcastically.

Though her scepticism vanished when Coal grabbed Cobalt's shoulder and disappeared in a flash of light, just to reappear a second later, standing right in front of them.

" _WHAT WAS THAT!"_ Fenrir yelled inside his head, backing up slightly from shock.

" _His Semblance from the looks of it."_ The soft voice explained, _"It appears he can teleport, shift from one location to another instantly."_

" _Well, that seems like a VERY broken ability to have."_ Fenrir commented.

" _I wouldn't be so sure. All Semblances have a drawback of some kind, his will be no different."_

The Grimm would have asked for some kind of clue as to what that weakness could be, but he was taken out of his head when the woman named Cobalt got right up into his personal space. At this closed distance, Fenrir was greeted to the sight of a Human with two different eye colours for the first time, one was blue, the other was orange. The colourful nature of this person contrasted heavily with her partner who was all black. From his clothes, to his skin, to his hair, to even his eyes, there was not a splash of colour to be found.

Though the Beowolf didn't doubt for a second that they weren't both just as cruel and sadistic as each other.

"Mmhmm, OH YES!" The girl exclaimed as she looked the Wolf up and down before her eyes gleamed with recognition, "This is the guy! You know, the one Grendel was telling us about. Black and blue hair, leather jacket, kind of rabid looking, it's gotta be him."

Up above, Fenrir caught sight of several Red Hand thug's shifting uncomfortably on their feet. Evidently, they also knew who Fenrir was and the sight of him was putting them on edge. Coal, meanwhile, was glaring at the Alpha with contempt burning hotly in his onyx-coloured eyes.

"If you're both quite done," Miltia snapped, bringing the pair's attention back to her, "I want to make a deal with your boss. This guy wasn't easy to catch, so we want quite a lot of compensation for his capture."

Fenrir had to remember to try and not look impressed. Clearly, Miltia was a well-practiced liar as if it wasn't for his sixth sense, he probably wouldn't be able to tell she was deceiving the duo. Cobalt and Coal shared a look, before the girl started to grin even wider and pointed back to the ship.

"Go get Lady Vatn Coal." She instructed, "She's definitely gonna want to see this."

Rather than move right away, Coal instead continued to scowl hatefully at the Wolf. Then, before Fenrir even had time to react, Coal charged towards the Beowolf and stabbed the end of his club into Fenrir's gut, activating the Dust crystal embedded at the top and sending electricity rocketing through Fenrir's body.

Fenrir roared as yellow electricity danced along his body and set his nerve endings on fire. Before he could even get used to the pain, Coal removed his club and whacked Fenrir hard across the head, sending Fenrir skidding along the floor.

The Alpha grunted as he struggled to get back to his feet. He didn't get far before Coal held down the Grimm's head with his boot.

"I hate dogs." He said quietly, his face portraying nothing but pure hatred for the Faunus beneath him.

Fenrir felt his anger boil over as this Human dared to think it could just hit him and get away with it. Glaring up at the man, Fenrir grinned viciously as Coal stared down at him.

"That's fine." He seethed, "I'm not the biggest fan of Humans myself. They're all so EMBARRISINGLY stupid!"

Coal clenched his fists hard as the mongrel dog glared up at him defiantly. He raised his club above his head, his need for violence outweighing his logic. He was stopped however, by Cobalt holding his raised wrist and stopping him from swinging his club down on the dog's head.

"Save it for later Coal," She told him sharply, "They'll be time to torture him later. Get lady Vatn, now!"

Coal smouldered for a few moments more, before he finally relented and stepped off the Faunus's head. He looked back towards the ship, and disappeared in another flash of light, reappearing on the deck of the ship and walking off to go get Lady Vatn.

Fenrir got back to his feet quickly, not willing to show any more signs of weakness than he had already given. Cobalt just cackled cruelly at him, sauntering off to walk along the wooden planks.

"Oh, we're going to have a lot of fun with you. Most Faunus scum we pick up are just SO weak, but you look strong. Breaking the strong ones is just so much more rewarding. I can't wait to see what you look like as a slave, maybe I'll even get you to lick my boots clean."

At the word 'slave', Fenrir felt his whole world darken as white-hot hatred exploded within him. His fangs and claws extended as he prepared to pounce forward and rip out this woman's throat with his teeth. Before he could do that, a pair of red blades pressed against his chest.

"Walk wolf." Miltia commanded, her tone icy, but her face telling a different story.

She was giving a look of warning to the Grimm and shaking her head almost imperceptibly. It was a look that meant; Calm down.

So, Fenrir willed his anger to settle back into his core, preparing to save it for later. With heavy footfalls, he ascended the wooden planks leading to the ship, Miltia walking right behind him. As he embarked the ship, his ears flicked at the sounds of the Red Hand members jeering at him, throwing taunts and threats at him that he easily ignored.

" _They wouldn't be so confident if they knew what's coming next."_

The pair were led further along the ship, into a maze of truck-sized shipping containers, steadily getting flanked on all sides by more and more Red Hand goons. Occasionally, Cobalt would look behind her shoulder and grin maliciously at the Grimm, her mind constantly cycling through various ways she could make the wolf scream. Fenrir just growled at her every time she did this.

Eventually, the pair were led into a clearing, and Fenrir gazed up in revulsion at what was surrounding him. Some of the containers had been repurposed into cages. All around him, dozens of Faunus were locked up, backing away fearfully at the sight of the manic woman walking into the area. More and more masked men crammed themselves into the small area near the back of the ship, all carrying weapons, some of whom banged theirs on the cages, startling the trapped Faunus inside. While Miltia kept her eyes trained on how many armed men were in the area, Fenrir scanned his eyes over the cells, searching for one Faunus in particular. Eventually, he found him, Rostig, huddled up in a corner, trying to comfort a buck-toothed girl who was crying silently.

" _Oh good, more kids."_ Fenrir couldn't stop his lips curling in disgust as he saw just how truly low these people were on the moral totem pole.

Rostig looked up and gasped in surprise when he saw the new arrival. Fenrir stared back at the older man, trying his best to show with his eyes that everything was going to be okay. He had no idea if the message was received, but the Boar-Faunus turned back to comforting the child next to him, so he guessed he must have caught on to what Fenrir was trying to say.

As more and more masked figures circled around them like vultures, Miltia gave a wary look to the teen next to her. After a few more minutes, Fenrir turned and gave a miniscule nod to the girl.

" _Yes,"_ He thought, _"That's everyone."_

Around three dozen Red Hand soldiers were gathered around them, the focused negative energy in the area making his head spin. All they had to do now was wait for this mysterious lady Vatn, and the charade could end.

A minute later, their wish was granted.

"Look alive you animals!" Cole yelled as he walked into the clearing, his eyes roaming scornfully along the cages filled with captured Faunus.

Miltia and Fenrir both stood anxiously, preparing for whatever came walking through after Coal. All around them, the Red Hand members bowed deeply as a figure came striding elegantly into the area. Even Coal and Cobalt dipped their heads in respect. From the cages, Fenrir felt the Faunus's fear change to terror as they all backed into the far walls of their confinements.

Though, it wasn't the new figure that got a reaction out of the Grimm. What got him to make a noise of aghast horror, was the person walking next to the one who was obviously in charge here. A girl roughly the same age as himself, with bottle-blonde hair and grey mouse ears on her head.

" _Lucy Mauve."_

There was no way it couldn't be her, she looked way too much like her mother for it not to be her. But what made his spine shudder, was the fact that a metal collar was clamped around her throat, her skin was dirty and bruised in places.

And her eyes… her eyes looked so **broken**. Her face expressionless as she walked alongside the other woman.

Looking to the person he guessed was lady Vatn, Fenrir felt the uncomfortable feeling in his gut grow even more powerful. This was an older woman, walking with a kind of grace that came from decades of practised experience. She wore a beautiful, Sea-foam green dress that came with a pair of equally green gloves that went all the way up to her elbows. She had ashen-grey hair that flowed like waves just below her shoulders.

But the thing that gave away who this person was, and why she was so high up in the Red Hand, was the eyes. They were a vivid shade of green that he had only seen on one other person.

"Well then," The woman purred, her voice rich and confident, "So you're the young Wolf who has been giving my son Grar such a bother."

 **A/N: So originally this chapter was going to be longer, but when I looked at the draft it had already cleared 20K words. Not only is that WAY too long for a chapter, but I figured you guys had waited long enough already, so yeah, there will be a part 3 soon.**

 **Other than that, here's Grendel's mother. And the reason they're on a ship, because in the original tale, Beowulf fought Grendel's mother at the bottom of a lake, hence the name of the ship. Also, the two henchman's full names are Coal Umbra and Cobalt Electra.**

 **Finally, it was my birthday recently, so yeah, one year closer to death. Let me know your thoughts in your reviews and I'll see you all later.**


	34. Chapter 34: The Red Hand rises part 3

**A/N: And here we have part 3. This chapter promises to be explosive and will give a great deal of development to quite a few characters. Hope you enjoy! And one more thing…**

 **Happy Halloween.**

 _While Fenrir was being captured…_

" _What's taking that kid so long?"_ Melanie fumed as she looked up at the rim of the harbour's walkway.

Because it was a dry-dock, the harbour floor was clear of water, meaning Phthalo and Melanie simply had to descend down, and sneak up to the ship, far below any wandering eyes that could spot them.

They had been given their instructions from Miltia and Fenrir: grab Frostbite, sneak onto the ship, and then, when the signal was given, chuck Fenrir's weapons at him and he and the twins could clean the house up.

Getting to the ship had been the easy part, the rusted ship towering above them as they found themselves face-to-face with the rudders. But once Melanie had ordered Theo to go up and grab Fenrir's weapons wherever they were hiding, the long-haired girl had nothing to do but wait for the boy to return.

" _Surely they can't be that hard to find!"_ The Hench-woman wondered _"They even told us where the Wolf had put them. If that kid isn't back in the next two minutes, I'm coming up there and getting them myself."_

Melanie counted a minute and thirty seconds before the young Bird-Faunus returned, his small face peering over the side of the rim down at her.

"Melanie!" He whisper yelled, his face completely red and covered in sweat.

"Hurry up kid, we don't have all day!" Melanie whispered back.

Rather than use his wings to simply fly down, Theo appeared to be struggling with something. Bringing his trembling arms up, Melanie squinted as she spied two black objects held precariously in the boy's grasp.

"Heads up." Theo called out as he rolled his arms forward, preparing to let the gauntlets fall to the floor.

Not thinking, Melanie leapt forward to try and catch the Gauntlets before they hit the floor. The first one landed perfectly in her arms… the immense weight of the thing sending the girl slamming down to the floor. Barely having time to process that, Melanie rolled out of the way as the second Gauntlet came hurtling towards her. The second Gauntlet crashed into the floor with such force that it made a small crater in the ground.

While Melanie gaped at the sight of the unnaturally heavy weaponry, Theo glided down next to the girl and looked down at the floor in guilt.

"Sorry," He mumbled, "Fenrir's weapons are really heavy, so it was hard to move them."

Shaking out of her stupor, Melanie brought herself back to her feet, lugging the single Gauntlet she was carrying like it was a sack full of bricks.

"It's fine kid," She said absently, "Just pick up the other one and we can get on the ship."

Phthalo hopped over to the Gauntlet embedded in the ground and gave a long, drawn-out grunt as he struggled to lift the hunk of metal up and hold it.

"Wow, no wonder Huntsman can beat the Grimm so easily," He wheezed, "They have to be crazy strong just to hold their weapons up."

Melanie frowned slightly. She knew that this was more than simply Huntsman conditioning, these Gauntlets were unnaturally heavy. And Fenrir had just… been wearing them, strapped to his arms, seemingly hardly bothered by the weight.

" _Not only that, but the way he shattered Miltia's blades like they were made of glass. Just what are those THINGS made of?"_

Figuring that she wouldn't get any answers standing around here, she moved towards the ship, Theo doing his best to keep up despite the Gauntlet almost comically weighing him down. Due to the unprecedented weight of Frostbite, their original plan of scaling the side of the ship would have to be scrapped.

Luckily for the two, the ship was incredibly rusty, meaning it's structural integrity wouldn't be as solid as it had been when it was first built. So all Melanie had to do was look for the brownest part of the hull and use her bladed heels and cut a hole in the metal.

The decayed steel made a horrible grinding noise as it fell apart after a few clean strikes from the long-haired twin. Theo winced and stared up at the top of the ship, half-expecting the men in the red masks to jump down on top of them and slice them to ribbons.

When that didn't happen, Theo let out a sigh of relief and joined Melanie as she walked into the dark and dingy interior. The dark corridor had the thick stench of rust and fish clinging to the air, it was also vaguely moist.

Once she was sure it was deserted, Melanie looked down at the winged boy with a stern glare.

"Alright kid remember the plan. When Fenrir gives the signal, we chuck his freaky Gauntlets at him, and then you stay DOWN." She instructed tensely, "The last thing we need to be worrying about in the middle of a fight is you."

Phthalo's wings drooped at the harsh words delivered by the older girl. It cut deep for the boy, to be reminded that he physically wouldn't be much help in the coming fight. Fenrir had told him it would take time before he would be ready to fight like the other adults.

But right now, he was restless. He wanted to help now, he wanted to be strong and fierce like the dark-haired wolf.

" _I don't know if I can just watch, not like last time."_

Keeping his thoughts to himself, Phthalo readjusted his grip on the cumbersome Gauntlet and kept pace with the Malachite girl.

Melanie, meanwhile, was keeping her ears tilted upwards towards the ceiling, steadily picking up the sounds of conversation up above.

" _Keep em talking sis, I'm on my way."_

…

" _Lady Vatn… Is Grar Grendelson's mother!"_

Fenrir already believed his luck was on the lower end of terrible, considering he was the first Grimm in Human History to be shackled with a Human form. But now, after staring at the woman who was casually striding into the clearing, he was now certain it was even lower, around the level of 'Abysmal'.

" _Grar by himself was bad enough, now I have to worry about his mother as well. Is the Red Hand just a twisted family business?"_

Vatn Grendelson regarded the Alpha for a moment that seemed to stretch uncomfortably in the silence. The way she was looking at him made Fenrir feel unclean somehow. Like he was something that was so far beneath her in every conceivable way that he should be ashamed to even be in her presence.

Of course, once he realised this, his anger spiked horrifically, and he audibly snarled at the woman. Cole sneered and made to walk towards Fenrir, intending to beat the Wolf for disrespecting their leader.

Surprisingly, Vatn held out her hand and stopped the man in his tracks. Still smiling slightly, the elder woman walked up to the Grimm in disguise and looked him up from head to toe.

"Well now," She said, "My son described you perfectly. I can see the fires of insolence burning in those eyes of yours. You're more enraged that you were caught, than you are afraid of what will happen to you. It's a type of stubborn, foolish bravery that is rare to come by, especially among your ilk."

" _Well, now I know where Grar got his talent for blasting hot air when he talks."_

"So tell me," The woman spoke aloud now, grabbing everyone's attention instantly, "How is it that you were finally captured and brought to us today?"

Miltia looked like she was about to walk forward and introduce herself, but the manic, blue-haired woman got there first.

"One of Junior's bimbos caught him!" Cobalt exclaimed jubilantly, "She says she wants a reward for getting him and bringing him to us."

Fenrir frowned at the unfamiliar word, though his confusion quickly changed to alarm when he saw Miltia glare angrily at the back of the woman's head, fists clenched at her sides. Of course, Fenrir wasn't in a position to do anything without giving away that this was a ruse, but he couldn't help but stare frantically at the Malachite.

" _Please don't tell me I have to tell YOU to keep calm!"_

To his great relief, Vatn appeared to disagree with Cobalt's comment and held a hand up to silence her.

"Now my dear," She scolded, "That's no way to talk about the lady who has given us such a gift today."

The older woman turned to Miltia and smiled at her in a way that could almost be considered kind. Of course, the raw negative energy seeping out of this Human was more than enough for Fenrir to know there was nothing kind about this woman.

"Not to worry my dear," Vatn said, her silky voice carrying far in the silent clearing, "We do not let deeds like this go unrewarded. From my understanding, your employer is a great collector of various resources. Money, weapons, people, I think a partnership between our two organisations would benefit us both equally."

Whilst Vatn and Miltia continued to discuss business, Fenrir covertly looked across the whole ship, anxiously searching for a glimpse of a white dress or blue wings. Instead, all he got were the terrified faces of more imprisoned Faunus, their improvised cages stacked on top of each other and towering above all those present in the small enclosure. The Grimm didn't even want to think about the total number of men, women and children this place was keeping against their will.

All he knew for sure, was that he was going to get each and every last one of them out of here, tonight.

After a few tense minutes, Fenrir finally felt himself lose one of the knots in his chest when he caught sight of Melanie and Theo, both pressed tightly against the side of a cargo container in order to blend in with the shadows. He couldn't help but wince slightly when he saw them both sweating slightly from the effort of holding onto his Gauntlets, the two of them carrying one each.

" _Probably should have warned them about the weight of those things. I guess I really did just get used to it."_

Before Fenrir could try and figure out if they were close enough for him to drop the charade and start a fight, Vatn had finished her conversation with Miltia and was now looking at him again. Any time Fenrir looked into those piercing green eyes, he could feel a shiver run down his spine involuntarily.

"Because of this… dog," Vatn spoke aloud to the gathering of masked men and imprisoned Faunus, "My son has been forced to show his hand and reveal the existence of our organisation too early. His carefully constructed plans abandoned for the sake of speed. But worry not dear followers, for now we can make this young wretch pay for his misdeeds."

Taking that as some kind of cue, Coal suddenly blinked out of existence, just to appear behind Fenrir and kick his legs out from under him. The Alpha landed hard with an audible thud.

"Oh, please let me be the one who gets to make him bleed!" Cobalt cackled, a vile grin stretching her face, "That tail would make such a lovely scarf for me."

Fenrir immediately wrapped his tail around his waist and leaned back. He didn't get far when he felt a cold, metal object prod the back of his skull, Coal's club if he had to guess.

"Patience Cobalt, patience." Vatn chided softly, "The time for this Beasts correction will soon come to pass. But first, he must be collared like the others."

Turning her back to the Grimm, Vatn glared harshly at the young, mouse-eared girl who had followed her into the clearing.

"You, girl!" She commanded, "Collar this animal so he can be put with the rest of your lower kind."

"Yes, my lady" The younger woman responded in a dull, emotionless voice.

" _What the hell did they do to you?"_ Fenrir seethed as the girl slowly shuffled towards him, brandishing a collar similar to her own.

Crouching down, Lucy moved to place the metal contraption around Fenrir's neck. The very thought of that thing being anywhere on his body sent a genuine spike of fear racing through the Grimm. Just as she was about to close the device around his throat, Fenrir whispered, making sure he was audible only to her.

"Lucy," He said, "Lucy Mauve?"

Lucy froze, still as a statue, not moving a single muscle as the Wolf's words echoed in her ears. For a single instant, Fenrir saw a flicker of life return to the girls smoky grey eyes, a few short breaths escaping her mouth.

"Your mother sent me to come find you," Fenrir continued urgently, "I'm going to get you out of here."

Lucy shuddered, her eyes now alight with remembrance and panic. She stepped back away from the Grimm, letting the metal collar drop to the floor. This was met with a clamouring of outrage by all the masked men. Though their shock was nothing compared to the fury of their club-wielding lieutenant.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING RODENT!" The man roared as he abandoned Fenrir to walk up to the girl and punch her across the head. The girl cried out as she fell to the floor, clutching the side of her head before her hands were roughly shoved away so Coal could place his boot on her head.

Fenrir roared in rage, shooting back to his feet and getting ready to leap forward and sink his teeth into the brutes neck. A sword pressed against his neck stopped him from doing that however, as a Red Hand goon seemed to have taken some initiative when Coal left to go punish Lucy.

"Girl," Vatn dragged out slowly, looking down at the cowering Faunus in disappointment, "Do I have to show you the nightmares again?"

Fenrir felt the fear in the air rise to brain-crushing levels. He noticed how Vatn's eyes started to glow ominously, the green standing out stark amidst the gloom of the area. All around him, the Faunus cowered, some of them closing their eyes or clutching their heads, Rostig was practically shielding the small girl with his body.

Lucy… screamed. She screamed so loud and shrill, even Miltia winced at the sight as the girl thrashed and writhed on the floor. The Girl worried that the Mouse-Faunus's throat would tear in half. As She continued to spasm on the grimy floor, Fenrir caught a glimpse of her face.

Her eyes were wide and blazing with terror, tears streaking down her face.

The Grimm was distressed. Many times in his life he had seen Humans give in to despair and cry out in horror at the sight of his gleaming fangs bearing down to end their life. But this… this was wrong, this was cruel. He knew there were those among his kind who had grown to be more sadistic than others, which is why his mother and father had been so strict with him when he'd started going on hunts with them.

" _ **Relish the hunt. Revel in the battle. But do not take pleasure in the kill. Dustlings are a blight, but do not prolong their suffering."**_

What this devil-woman was doing, it spat in the face of what his parents had taught him. And he couldn't stand it.

"STOP IT!"

With a yell, Fenrir shoved the masked man away from himself and made to charge forward and get Lucy away from that monster. He didn't get far as, like a swarm of flies, four more masked men blocked his path and restrained him. The Beowolf thrashed and struggled with all his might, but the four Henchmen were just barely able to keep him back. All the while, Cobalt cackled gleefully, and Coal sneered with hatred. Miltia meanwhile, had also taken notice of Melanie and Phthalo's gradually increasing closeness and started subtly making her way towards them, the Red Hand now preoccupied with Fenrir's struggling.

" _Come on Fenrir,"_ Miltia begged, _"I want to get this over with already."_

Vatn seemed to have stopped her mental torture of the blonde-haired girl, who now lay still on the floor, eyes now back to their semi-glassy dullness. Striding forward towards the restrained Grimm, Vatn's face briefly twisted into a look of contempt, before she swiftly backhanded the wolf.

Fenrir hardly felt the impact, his mind steadily clouding over with rage and forgetting that there was even a plan in the first place.

"Do you presume to command me mongrel?" Vatn asked mockingly, "Isn't that just like a Faunus? Thinking they can just rise above their station and receive zero consequences in return."

All around him, the crowd of masked men jeered and cheered as their leader continued to mock the captive Wolf. Fenrir, summoning up what strength he could, got as close as possible to the older woman's face and seethed, teeth bared and gleaming in the low lighting.

"These people are innocent," He growled, "They've done nothing to you!"

Vatn laughed haughtily, only serving to further rankle the smouldering Grimm as he continued to pull against the arms restricting his limbs.

"Innocent?" The woman asked incredulously, "Isn't it interesting how these Faunus can be considered 'innocent' in your eyes. But tell me, what about all those Humans who were slain by your kinds hands, were they not also innocent?"

Fenrir's brow furrowed in confusion, now lost as to what this mad woman was talking about. Seeing the Wolf's lost expression, Vatn sighed deeply and drew herself up back to her usual elegance and decided that an explanation was needed in order for this fool to understand.

"My husband, Grar's father," She said slowly, "He fought in the Faunus war forty years ago. He witnessed the atrocities committed by your mutated off-shoot of Humanity. He bled and fought for all of the Human race, the TRUE Human race. And how was he rewarded for his efforts? With news that the Faunus had claimed victory and would not be sent off to live on Menagerie where they belonged."

As Vatn continued to rant, Fenrir once again noticed how Melanie and Phthalo were waiting impatiently, now only a few feet away from where Cobalt was lounging back on a small crate. Rather than call out the word that would get them all to spring into action, Fenrir decided to wait and let this mad-woman keep talking. After all, Ozpin did say they were low on information in regards to the Red Hand's merciless leader, so best to glean as much as he could from this whole experience.

"A small home in Atlas and a worthless medal were all my Husband had to his name when all was said and done," Vatn continued, "For years, my dear son and I listened to his stories of how he'd witnessed just how truly savage your people are. Grar took to it like a fish takes to water, and he vowed to my husband that he would finish what he started. And then, five years ago… tragedy struck our family once again. Those rabid monsters that call themselves the White Fang cornered my beloved in the street, and murdered him in cold blood."

Vatn was now fully glaring at the Wolf, as if he was responsible for her Husband's death. In her mind, he probably was.

"From that day, my son and I have worked ourselves down to the bone to bring this group to where it is today." Vatn spoke with a tad more composure, pointing behind her at Coal, "Finding like-minded individuals like young master Umbra to help bolster our ranks. Soon, my son shall bring your entire race under the heel of Humanity where you were always supposed to be."

Fenrir's expression had surprisingly calmed as the older woman talked, though it flared up in anger again at the last part of Vatn's statement. His inner fire crackled threateningly at the absurd notion that Humanity was in any way superior to any creature on Remnants earth.

Regarding the wolf coolly, Vatn cupped Fenrir's chin and forced him to look her in the eyes.

"You'll see, in time, even you will agree that this is the natural order of things. Humans were always destined to be the rulers of this world." She purred lowly, drawing herself ever closer to the Wolf, "Any other race will either submit to us, or be erased in cleansing fire. In all these years, I have only been able to find two reasons to let your kind live. One: manual labour, your animal genetics make you hardier than most I'll admit. The other reason… well that's something a tad more base in nature. I'm sure someone as bestial as you knows what I'm talking about."

At first, Fenrir didn't have a clue what she was talking about. But then she started to lean down, bringing herself closer to Fenrir's face, and the wolf felt bile build in his gut as his head was forcibly tilted up.

"Come now," The woman whispered, eyelids lowering as she closed the gap between herself and Fenrir, "It'll be far less painful if you just submit this way, instead of…"

CRACK!

Fenrir had moved quicker than anyone could react, Miltia hadn't even seen what happened, only hearing the sickening sound of bone snapping and catching some stray, red blots splash on the grey, metal floor.

Fenrir was dragged backwards, head hung down obscuring his eyes as Vatn shrieked in pain, clutching at a now broken nose. It was only when Fenrir lifted his head up and Miltia saw the bloody smear on the bridge of his nose, that the girl realised what just happened.

Fenrir had reared his head back, and head-butted the older woman.

"Sorry," Fenrir snarled, a furious grin on his face as a drop of blood dribbled down to his chin, "You're not my type!"

"YOU… YOU BRUTE!" Vatn screamed, stepping backwards as Coal moved forwards, club at the ready and crackling with Dust energy.

"Oh, and one more thing," Fenrir continued, uncaring of the dark-skinned Male stomping towards him, "I read up about the Faunus war, and personally… **I think your Husband deserved what he got!"**

Everyone on the old ship was aghast at Fenrir's venomous comment, Vatn looking like she'd just been shot in the stomach. But Fenrir couldn't care less, he had grown tired of this act, and he'd definitely had enough of these Dustling wretches restraining him with their feeble bodies. Finally letting his Aura spill out of him, a chilly blue haze instantly covering his form and enveloping the ropes holding his wrists together in frost. Cobalt and Coal both turned wide-eyed at the sight, but were too late to stop what was about to happen as Fenrir drew himself up and hollered…

"BEOWOLF!"

And like pythons, Melanie and Phthalo sprung out of the shadows. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Melanie leapt forward and caught Coal right on the small of his back with both of her bladed heels. Moving around her sister, Miltia caught Cobalt right on the side of her head with her claws. Fenrir roared and shoved his arms backwards, shattering his bonds like frozen glass and sending the four men holding flailing up into the air, two of them smashing into the crates that housed Faunus prisoners.

Seeing that he was freed, Phthalo and Melanie grunted and chucked both of the Grimm's gauntlets up into the air. The Alpha zeroed in on them as they arced up into the air. Running forward, Fenrir leapt upwards and swiftly shoved his arms through the open holes, twirling slightly as he did.

The Grimm smashed into the ground, knees hitting the floor hard as a faint whirring sound came from his arms as Frostbite automatically clamped themselves on to his forearms.

The whole process, from Melanie and Phthalo arriving, to Fenrir securing his weapons, had taken less than fifteen seconds, leaving the Red Hand reeling as they scrambled to bring their weapons up.

Fenrir needed only press eight small buttons on the palms of his hands.

SHNK!

The Alpha looked up at the few Goons standing on top of the towers of cargo containers that circled the clearing. Unleashing his revolvers, barrels spinning wildly, the Beowolf threw his arms up and fired at the targets above him.

His guns blasted like cannons as he frantically tried to bring down the four gunmen. Luckily, his bullets quickly found their marks. Three of the men catapulted backwards, their flimsy Aura's falling apart upon coming into contact with the high-calibre Dust rounds, one unfortunate soul crumpled forwards and fell through the air and crashed hard onto the floor below, clutching his back as he groaned in agony.

While Fenrir took care of the targets above, Vatn had come out of her stupor and yelled with a vengeful fury, blood still streaming from her nose.

"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!"

Chaos erupted in the clearing as the group of masked men charged forwards and engaged in battle with the three fighters, completely oblivious to the young bird Faunus who slunk back into the shadows, watching fearfully as the battle began in earnest.

Melanie and Miltia sprinted round the edge of the circle, performing extremely well as double crowd-control. Any goon that was unfortunate to cross their paths, was instantly sent to the floor as either Miltia claws or Melanie's heels sliced through their pitiful defence and sent their worlds spinning.

Fenrir, while less graceful, was no less brutal as those who were able to escape the twins path of destruction, were immediately set upon by one very angry Wolf.

A minion swung his sword at the beast, Fenrir deftly blocking it and swinging his other arm around to uppercut the thug, four shimmering blades obliterating the man's Aura and making him backflip in the air.

Another thug fired his assault rifle at the Alpha, Fenrir forming a cross-formation with his arms to shield himself from the bullets. The heavy metal of his Gauntlets absorbed the blows best they could, though a few lucky shots hit Fenrir in the gut as he ran forward, making him grunt in pain.

Still, once he was close enough, he slashed his blades through the air, hacking the man's gun to bits. The thugs eyes were wide behind his mask as he stared down at the broken fragments of his weapon. His brief moment of distraction cost him as Fenrir threw a flurry of jabs at his face, and then finished with a revolver blast that sent the unconscious thug sliding across the floor.

Miltia was about to go for another run, when a chained ball zoomed past her head, grazing her cheek. Rolling to the side, the girl frowned when she saw that the ball was attached to a chain, and the person holding that chain was an enraged Cobalt.

"I'm gonna enjoy cutting up that pretty face of yours." She hissed, spinning two chains around herself, two equally deadly-looking balls whipping through the air.

The maniacs show was halted however when Melanie appeared from out of nowhere and Cobalt had to quickly use her chains to defend her head from a roundhouse. Back-pedalling, the woman tried to keep both of the twins in her sight as they circled around her.

Fenrir leapt onto another man, firing both of his guns at two other grunts who fell easily as he twisted his body and threw the first thug down to the ground. Scrambling quickly, Fenrir drew his fist back and delivered a devastating sucker-punch that knocked the downed guy out cold. Getting a momentary reprieve from the chaos, Fenrir looked around, quickly finding Vatn. The woman was slowly backing away from the clearing, smouldering glare on her face as she saw that this whole situation was rapidly falling out of her favour.

" _She's going to make a run for it. Can't let her get away!"_

With a thunderous yell, Fenrir charged forward, pouncing into the air and pointing his blades straight ahead, planning to stab the woman straight through the chest if that's what it took to stop her.

But then, a sudden flash of light temporarily blinded the Grimm, and then he was seeing stars as he was clubbed round the side of his head. Coal had teleported right in front of the young Beowolf as he was in mid-air, and had swung his club as hard as he could.

The Alpha rolled ungracefully, head throbbing slightly from the impact. It was a good thing he opened his eyes when he did, or he might have missed the masked assailant standing above him, holding a dagger and about to plunge it into the beasts head.

Fenrir quickly rolled out of the way, hearing the metal screech as the man's dagger cut into the floor. Growling in rage, Fenrir shot forward and drove his knee into the man's jaw, hearing a satisfying crack as the thug instantly fell limp.

Though another flash of light ruined Fenrir's already sour mood as Coal blinked into existence in front of him. Fenrir was just about able to block another wide swing from the brute of a man, but the impact sent him backwards, boots skidding across the floor.

Fenrir got no chance to breath as Coal activated the Dust crystal imbedded in his club and sent an electric bolt flying at Fenrir. The Grimm shuddered violently as the electricity thrashed his body, sending him to his knees. While the Wolf was incapacitated, Coal looked back at his leader and a few remaining thugs.

"GET HER OUT OF HERE! NOW!" He yelled, "I'LL TAKE CARE OF THIS DOG!"

Shaking his body free of the grip the electricity had on it, Fenrir snarled and sprinted forward to attack Coal. At the same time, Cobalt, having used a wide-swing to get the twins to back off, noticed her leader was trying to retreat and quickly dashed off to cover her.

Miltia huffed in aggravation, hitting a minion who had tried to sneak up behind her with her elbow. The thug dropped instantly.

Fenrir slashed and hacked, Frostbite singing as it clashed with Coal's club. The brute blocked and parried like he was holding a sword, the two locked in a brawl that sent sparks flying into the air. Sometimes, Fenrir would grab the club and yank Coal forwards to try and hit him that way, but Coal was deceptively quick for his size and leaned his head back, the tips of Frostbite ghosting across his face.

Coal struck out with a foot and caught Fenrir on the shin, bringing the Alpha into a crouch. Coal raised his club above his head and brought it down hard on the top of Fenrir's head. Fenrir just about managed to raise his arms up and block the strike, blades crossing over each other as they held up valiantly while Coal pressed into the club with all his strength.

Fenrir groaned as he tried to push out of the lock, his lowered position putting him at a disadvantage. Above him, Coal leered and pressed a button on his weapon, lighting up the Shock Dust crystal that stood at the top of the club.

"When I'm done with you dog, I'm gonna turn your tail into a scarf!" He said, hatred oozing from his voice, "And I'll feed what's left of you to a Boarbatusk!"

Fenrir leaned back, trying to not get too close to the random bolts that were arcing off the top of the club. Roaring in exertion, Fenrir pressed out the club and snapped forward, smashing his head into Coal's chin.

Back on the offensive, Fenrir slashed his claws through the air, aiming at the dead-centre of Coal's chest. To his surprise, Coal disappeared in a flash of light, Frostbite hitting nothing but air.

The Grimm had a second to look shocked, before getting hit on the back of the head. Coal grabbed Fenrir by the back of his neck as the Wolf stumbled forward, then lifted him up into the air and slammed him into the ground.

Fenrir gasped as the air was forced out of his lungs. Coal pressed his boot on the downed Wolf's throat and reared his club back to cave in Fenrir's skull.

Luckily, the Malachite twins had not been idle during all this. Melanie had ran off in pursuit of Cobalt, disappearing behind a corner. Miltia meanwhile, ran to Fenrir's aid and stabbed Coal in the back. The man groaned in pain, but recovered and swung his club behind himself, forcing Miltia to leap backwards.

It was enough of an opening for Fenrir to throw his arms up and fire his revolvers in rapid succession, forcing Coal even further back. Scrambling to his feet, Fenrir joined Miltia and the two began a joint assault on Coal.

From there, the action was hard to follow [Especially for a young Bird Faunus who'd been watching the whole thing with bated breath], the three combatants moving in a dizzying array of attacks, counter-attacks, and defensive manoeuvres as Miltia and Fenrir tried everything they could think of to break through Coal's defence. To their frustration, whenever they were starting to put Coal on the back-burner, he would simply teleport behind one of them and get in a pot-shot, before the whole thing started over again.

Just like with his fight with the twins, Fenrir became angrier and angrier the longer the fight progressed, his face twisted up into a livid frown, fangs on full display as he roared and shouted. His attacks also became more fervent and vicious, giving Coal less opportunities to deliver his own attacks.

On the inside, Coal was starting to grow worried. From the few hits he'd gotten from the two, the Wolf's blades felt different from any other weapon he'd been struck by.

They felt sharper, deadlier, and he could sense his sizeable Aura lose a piece of itself every time Frostbite so much as grazed him.

Feeling cornered, Coal activated his Dust crystal and stabbed his now scratched up club into the ground. The yellow electric energy snaked along the floor and caught both Miltia and Fenrir in its path.

While the two struggled on the ground, Coal saw his back-up finally arrive. Blinking over to a heavy-set man wielding a Flame-thrower, Coal roughly shoved his way past the new arrival and shouted behind his shoulder.

"DO NOT LET THEM ESCAPE!"

Fenrir looked up just in time to see Coal disappear behind the same corner Cobalt, Melanie and Vatn had run past, and then his eyes widned when he saw a new masked man enter the clearing, holding something huge. When he saw the large, red fire Crystal on the end of the weapon start to light up, he felt something subconsciously tell him to move out of the way, RIGHT NOW.

Miltia had just enough time to look up and see a glowing spot in front of a huge man, before being yanked back by her fur collar. Fenrir had seen the girl was about to be caught in the plume of fire and, without even thinking, grabbed her and leapt backwards. The pair winced as they felt the heat of the flames wash over their skin.

As If the situation couldn't get any more one-sided, a bullet whizzed by Fenrir's lupine ears, and the Grimm was gifted with the sight of two more Red Hand minions wielding sniper rifles.

"Now what?" Miltia snapped, backing up as the flame-thrower guy got steadily closer.

Fenrir darted his eyes between the flame-thrower and the snipers, bringing his gauntlets up to shield his face as the bullets ricochet off the metal.

" _Try and aim for the Dust crystal."_ The soft voice advised.

Looking back to the device currently spewing great jets of flame at them, Fenrir squinted through the glare and spotted the chunk of Dust sitting at the front of the weapon. Praying that his aim had improved enough to make the shot, Fenrir raised his right Gauntlet and lined up the sights best he could, aiming straight at the crystal.

"Oh god." Miltia whispered when she saw what Fenrir was about to do.

Unfortunately, the masked man couldn't see through the flames in time to see the wolf fire his revolver. The bullet ripped through the air, collided with the Dust crystal, and the two forces reacted explosively.

BOOM!

The thug was flung backwards, his Aura being the only thing saving him from being covered in third degree burns, but not from being knocked out cold. Miltia and Fenrir cringed as they were both blinded from the white-hot flames. All around, the trapped Faunus pressed themselves into the backs of their cages, some shielding others behind themselves, to get away from the menacing flames.

Fenrir couldn't revel in his victory, as a stray bullet caught his ankle. One of the snipers landed a lucky shot.

"GAAGGHHRRRGGHH!"

Fenrir seethed as he looked up at the two masked men. Miltia looked like she wanted to go up and take them down, but Fenrir halted her.

"No!" He yelled, "I'll get them, you go after your sister."

"I thought you'd want to take down Vatn?" Miltia questioned.

True, Fenrir really wanted to show that vile woman just how cruel HE could be, but he also didn't want a single one of these Red Hand monsters escaping.

"Just go," He ordered, "I'll catch up!"

Not needing further prompting, Miltia dove through the fire and chased after the retreating Red Hand leader. Fenrir ran full-pelt at the tower of crates that the two snipers stood on, thinking back to when Grar had made his getaway a few weeks ago.

" _He used his Aura to clear a whole building in one leap,"_ He remembered, already starting to channel his own Aura through his body, _"If he can do that, so can I. There's nothing a Grimm can't do!"_

The ground beneath the Grimm became icy and frost-covered as he crouched down, soul energy building and surging in his legs. With an almighty leap, and a glacial gust of wind, Fenrir shot fifteen meters straight up into the air, clearing the cargo containers and shunting the two thugs backwards from the draft of wind.

"WWWOOOOOOAAAAAHAHAHAHOOOO!" Fenrir exclaimed as he realised just how high up in the air he was, snowflakes flittering in his vision.

His excitement was tempered when he became aware that gravity was beckoning him back downwards. Still crackling with brilliant blue energy, Fenrir drew a fist back and dove down towards one of the masked men.

The man looked up and saw a frost-covered fist heading straight for him, and then his mask was blown apart from the impact of the blow and his skull was sent careening into the floor of the container.

Fenrir lurched forward, panting as his Aura reached its limit and disappeared with a sputter. There was one guy still standing, desperately trying to shake the build-up of ice that now covered his body. Heaving in exertion, Fenrir grabbed the fallen man's rifle and lobbed it at the second man. The butt of the rifle bounced of the crown of the thugs head, and the poor fool fell of the container and plummeted down to the ground far below.

After checking to make sure the guy was alive [He was, miraculously], Fenrir picked himself up and jumped from cargo container to cargo container, intent on catching up to the others. Behind him, a pair of blue wings flapped furiously to keep up with the wolf.

" _Hope the twins are holding their own."_

…..

While Fenrir and Miltia were having their own personal trial by fire, Vatn ran for the exit off the ship, flanked on all sides by Red Hand guards and a slightly frazzled Cobalt. All the while, the older-woman fumed, amazed at how quickly the situation had unravelled around her.

" _That two-bit gangster Junior is going to pay for this treachery."_ She swore, weaving in between the rusty containers that walled them in.

Behind them, Melanie had finally caught up to the retreating group. Running along the container sides, and then diving into the middle of the group. Springing up on her hands, the long-haired twin whirled her legs round like a windmill, knocking back over half of the guards to the floor.

Snarling wildly, Cobalt brought back her ball-and-chain and slammed it down into the floor. Melanie narrowly avoided the blow and brought her heels around to deliver a foot-sweep that sent Cobalt sprawling. Cartwheeling over her, Melanie struck hard and fast, relentlessly taking down any mask-wearing clown that was stupid enough to try and stop her.

Off to the side, Vatn rubbed her eyes, mentally preparing for what she was about to do.

" _It's so hard to find competent soldiers these days. Have to do everything myself."_

Once all of the enemies were knocked out, Melanie finally ceased her assault to take a breather. Once she focused on the woman who was in charge of this whole operation, she drew herself up, and walked forward with a confident swagger.

"We'll be taking back our Lien now." She said matter-of-factly, "You know, the Lien you stole from us."

"You should have joined us," Vatn said with a resigned sigh, "We could have truly done great things for this kingdom together."

"Sorry, but Junior doesn't do partnerships with deranged terrorists." Melanie responded.

Vatn sighed again, then chuckled darkly as Melanie got steadily closer to her.

"Well then, my dear, may I propose a counter-offer," Vatn whispered, her eyes starting to glow with a sinister green light, "Instead of giving you your Lien back, how about I show you… your worst fears come to life!"

Vatn shot her head up, eyes shining brightly and locking gazes with Melanie. Instantly, the younger girl became stiff as a board, heart stopping in her chest and eyes becoming unfocused and slightly clouded over.

Then, Melanie fell to her knees, her breaths coming in sharp and short, arms clutching her sides and tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. Above her, Vatn kept her gaze locked with the steadily crumbling girl, grinning viciously as she saw for herself what was going on in Melanie's head.

"Miltia… please…" The girl whimpered, "… Please get up… you can't…"

Vatn's Semblance was not powerful in the conventional sense, but it was incredibly efficient at taking down a singular target. All she needed to do was lock eyes with the intended recipient, and their worst fears would be revealed right before their eyes, shown to a sickeningly realistic degree.

While Vatn kept her eyes trained on the quivering girl, Cobalt recovered and began twirling her flail like a cane. Grinning from ear to ear, Cobalt slammed the spiked ball right onto Melanie's back. Melanie yelled as the illusion broke around her and pain encompassed her whole body.

Chucking the girl straight up into the air, the spikes acting like hooks digging into Melanie's back, Cobalt spun round and brought the flail back down with an almighty pull. Melanie was sent crashing through several containers, the rending metal screeching harshly as the Malachite twins body was brutalised.

Once the dust settled, Cobalt caught sight of an off-white Aura weakly fizzling, before disappearing completely as the unconscious form of Melanie Malachite was fully revealed. The two women didn't get to revel in their victory, for at that moment Coal teleported into their midst, looking a little scuffed up.

"Lady Vatn!" He said hurriedly, "We need to keep moving, those brats are stronger than I thought!"

One of those said brats in fact, had already caught up to them and leapt past all three of them, instantly coming to the defence of her sister.

"Melanie!" Miltia looked behind her shoulder briefly, inwardly worried at how beaten up her sister was.

"She's just sleeping~" Cobalt chirped, malicious grin still on her face as she loaded some Fire Dust into her spiked balls, "And when she wakes up, she'll be greeted to the lovely sight of your corpse!"

Miltia grit her teeth in frustration as she saw the last remaining members of the Red Hand catch up to them and circle protectively around their leader, while Coal and Cobalt strode forward, both looking forward to ending the Malachite twins lives.

A yell of exertion echoed from nearby. The group looked around in confusion, wondering where it had come from, before one masked guard spied something sailing through the air, coming right for them.

"HOLY SHI…!"

The man's swear was cut off when a frost-covered container took him and several others out as it crashed onto the floor. The metal screeched as it slid across the floor before slamming into a wall of equally sized containers. Those who were still conscious, clutched their ears as the metallic clang echoed across the whole ship like a gong.

…..

By the time Fenrir had caught up to Miltia, she was already being surrounded by the remaining Red Hand minions. He'd at first tried to get their attention by firing at them with his revolvers, but to his dismay, all he got was a series of dull clicks when he pressed the corresponding pads.

" _Oh you've got to be kidding me!"_ He groaned.

He'd run out of ammo, there were no bullets for him to fire.

So, failing that, he looked down at the container he was literally standing on, and a crazy idea popped into his head.

" _This'd be tricky even if I was in my true form."_

This fact did little to stop Fenrir as he leapt down to a crate behind him and positioned himself to lift the large hunk of metal up onto his shoulders. Closing his eyes, the Grimm focused every fibre of his being into drawing up the full extent of his Aura.

" _Come on Aura, work with me here!"_

The blue haze enveloped Fenrir like mist, the air freezing around him as his claws dug in tight to the thick iron. At first, the Alpha couldn't budge the heavy container, he pulled and heaved, eyes screwed up and teeth grit, unaware of the metal starting to buckle beneath his feet.

But finally, just as his Aura was starting to turn on him, the crate shifted, and Fenrir lifted the massive object up onto his shoulders. Aware of his limited time, the Grimm took no time to marvel at his newfound strength, instead he threw the thing as hard as he could.

The second the container departed from his fingertips; Fenrir collapsed to his knees, his body bereft of air and eyelids heavy. A lazy grin crossed his face as he heard one man yell an expletive before being flattened by his projectile.

Forcing himself to remain in the fight, Fenrir leapt off his perch, blades stabbed into the metal container as he slid down to the floor of the ship. While those standing scrambled to figure out just what in Remnant's name had happened, Fenrir charged into the fray, claws gleaming through the gloom.

Coal looked up in time to see the Wolf had caught up to them as well. Fenrir pounced and attacked Coal, but the older man just teleported again, Fenrir striking nothing but an after-image.

Coal reappeared behind the Grimm, arms rearing back to prepare to cave the Wolf's skull in with his club. To his complete disbelief, the Wolf turned on his heel and blocked the club.

" _He always appears behind me."_ Fenrir thought, his face twisted up with a vicious snarl, _"Predictable fool."_

As Fenrir began his counterattack, Miltia re-engaged Cobalt, the maniac once again distracted by other things going on and put on the defensive. Vatn grabbed the two nearest masked men, and instructed them to follow her as she continued her retreat.

Fenrir was relentless, his body almost moving on auto-pilot as he twisted and turned, slashed and stabbed, furiously breaking through Coal's defence. A wide swing from Coal caused the Grimm to duck and deliver a flurry of punches to Coal's mid-section, then immediately tackled him to the ground. From there, the Alpha tried to hit every single part of Coal's body that he could get to. The brute's Aura fell rapidly as Fenrir finally had him pinned, pain encompassing every inch of his body.

In a desperate move, Coal shoved the tip of his club right next to Fenrir's temple, intending to deliver an electric shock straight to the Faunus's brain. The Wolf was too quick though, and pushed the sparking club away from him, then lifted the larger man back up into the air just to slam him into a nearby wall.

Coal landed a lucky kick to Fenrir's ribs, loosening the Grimm's grip on his shirt. Coal brought his club up with both hands and brought it down on Fenrir's head. Fenrir just managed to bring his blades up to block the swing, arms shaking now as the Grimm steadily started to run out of adrenaline.

He'd never been one for long, drawn-out fights.

"Just go down already!" Coal roared, pouring every last drop of his strength into his club.

"I don't take requests!" Fenrir replied, blocking out the chaos going on around him as he refocused himself to summon his Aura once more.

Fenrir's eyes snapped open, now a bright, icy blue as the air around him instantly turned bitingly cold. Letting the power reinvigorate him, Fenrir blitzed past Coal's club, grabbed Coal by his face and brought it down onto his knee. The recoil from such a blow actually propelled Coal into the air, his expression dazed from the blow.

Panting heavily, Fenrir grabbed Coal again, leapt backwards, and slammed Coal into the opposite wall, several feet in the air. Using his precious few seconds left, Fenrir jumped even higher into the air, then shot straight down and suplexed Coal, head-first into the ground. Ice spread out everywhere, the entire area coloured blue, save for a black Aura that quickly fell apart around Coal.

The thug slumped over, Fenrir following close after as his Aura retreated back into himself. The Grimm now felt like he'd run straight from Vacuo to Mistral without stopping, repeated use of his Aura sapping his stamina. He panted heavily, finding it difficult to focus on the sounds of battle close by as dark spots danced in his vision.

Weirdly enough, his throat was also giving him issues. His windpipe felt like it was caught in a clamp, forcing him to take even deeper breaths, white mist billowing out of his mouth on every exhale. If Fenrir had been able to see himself in third-person, he would have seen a concentration of bright blue light, focused entirely on his neck. Eventually, the energy dispersed, and the Grimm was able to lurch back to his feet.

" _That was weird. I've never felt pressure on my throat like that before."_

Dismissing the unusual occurrence as just an unintended side-effect of repeated usage of his Aura, Fenrir refocused on his fallen opponent, and more importantly, the scratched-up club that now lay to the side. Not wanting to take chances, the Alpha kicked the weapon into the darkness, far from sight and reach.

Though, the wolf had no idea he'd just kicked the club towards someone who had been watching from the shadows. Bright yellow eyes stared down at the large weapon with both trepidation and excitement.

" _Is… does he want me to get involved?"_ Phthalo hoped, watching as Fenrir took a few more breaths, before heading over to Miltia and Cobalt.

" _Can't rest yet."_ The Wolf lamented, dragging his feet as he moved to re-join the action.

Miltia had held her own exceptionally well. What few remaining Red Hand minions that hadn't been taken out via cargo container, had been quickly eliminated by Miltia's claws, even as she fought Cobalt. Though it was clear she was starting to tire, unable to avoid a flying fireball from Cobalt that caught her on the shoulder. The sound of sizzling and a pained yell from Miltia clued the three combatants into the fact that the girl had suffered quite a bad burn. The blue-and-orange eyed girl grinned victoriously as she saw she only had to press her attack a little longer.

But, in a move that had her teeth grinding against each other in building anger, Fenrir dove forward to shield Miltia from sight. His eyelids were drooping heavily, and his breaths were still quite laboured.

"Go away mutt!" She screamed, flinging her flaming flail towards the beast, "I'll play with you later!"

Despite his exhaustion, Fenrir just managed to move his body to the side, the flames from the ball licking his cheek but not actually hurting him. As the chain zipped past his head, the Grimm grabbed it and started quickly wrapping the links around his arms. Cobalt's eyes instantly grew wide with panic, and she tried to pull the chain back, but the Beowolf still had strength to spare and held on tight.

"Hey! Let go you filthy little pest!" Cobalt hissed, trying to mask her growing panic with anger.

Fenrir continued to wrap himself up in the heavy chain, the still flaming spiked ball trailing after him. As soon as Fenrir had gotten right up in Cobalt's face, he turned his blades outwards, scraping them up against the chains. Cobalt realised too late what this wolf was trying to do.

"HAAAAARRRGGGHHH!"

With a yell, Fenrir burst out from his own confinement, the super-metal that made up Frostbite's blades sliced clean through the chains, links flying all over the place as the spiked ball thudded to the ground, smouldering uselessly. Cobalt's eyes were wide open, a pit forming in her stomach as her prized weapon was so effortlessly destroyed.

"No…" She whispered, before her face twisted up in rage and she charged at the Wolf, "NO, NO, NO!"

The Beowolf was spent, his arms hanging limply, the weight of his Gauntlets holding them down at his sides. He could tell, the woman was going to try to just beat him death. Given how little strength he had left, she probably would be able to take him out that way.

But a saviour arrived for the Grimm, in the form of a red blur. Miltia had recovered enough to dive back into the fray, and now that Cobalt was unarmed, completely cut loose with a beatdown that even made Fenrir wince. Miltia finished up her gratifying assault with an uppercut that took Cobalt off her feet. Her Aura broke before she even hit the ground.

"That's for calling me a bimbo." Miltia muttered, before she too hunched over and took in deep breaths of stale, salty air.

The two fighters stood there for a moment getting their breath back, before Fenrir looked around the clearing and came to a startling realisation.

"Vatn… where's Vatn?" He asked, whipping his head to and fro, not catching a glimpse of green eyes.

"She must have took off in the scuffle." Miltia guessed, limping her way over to her twin who was groaning quietly.

Fenrir was about to order Miltia to help him catch the runaway Grendelson, but when he saw that Melanie was struggling to remain conscious and Miltia was clutching her right arm, the skin under her fingers red raw, Fenrir realised he would get no further help from the Malachite twins.

" _Dammit,"_ He cursed, _"I am not letting her get away. Alright Beowolf, time to dig deep!"_

Drawing on the last reserves of his stamina, Fenrir crouched down and prepared to summon his Aura one final time.

"Miltia!" He barked, "Gather up these thugs, I'll catch Vatn."

Not waiting to see if Miltia had even heard him, Fenrir once more became encased in his shining blue soul energy. With a growl of exertion, Fenrir took off, heading straight for the wooden planks. All Miltia caught was a navy blur that took off at incredible speeds, snowflakes flying through the air in its wake.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Coal had recovered from his unconscious state and also caught sight of the frost-covered Wolf Faunus as it blasted past a corner, it's contrail jerky and uncoordinated. Knowing that the vermin was still trying to capture his leader, Coal forced himself back to his feet, sneer on his face as he took off after Fenrir, following the trail of ice and upturned crates as his leg muscles burned. With his Aura depleted, Coal could no longer rely on his Semblance to quickly catch up to the Wolf.

From the shadows, Theo watched as the club-wielding thug took off after Fenrir. The boy grew worried at first, but then he looked down at the club that still lay at his feet, and then at the twins as they were gathering themselves. Phthalo's small hands balled into fists as his scared face changed to one of determination.

" _Fenrir, Melanie and Miltia have been giving their all, while I just hid in the dark. I can't do this anymore; I'm going to help."_

Now, brimming with conviction, Phthalo knew he had to stop that teleporting guy from hurting Fenrir. And now, thanks to the Wolf himself, Theo now had a way to do that.

He picked up the club.

…..

Vatn could see the planks that would get her off the ship, she was literally feet away from them. But then, she heard a whistling sound that typically came from an object that was travelling at incredibly high speed, followed by a chill rushing down her spine, then a swirling blue mass flew over her head and came to a stop right at the edge of the ship.

Cold washed over them all as the air became misty from the frost in the air.

Fenrir gasped as his body rematerialized in front of the retreating group. He was covered from head to foot in ice, even the ends of his hair were frozen over. Every exhale from Fenrir produced further white mist into the air. At a pace that betrayed just how tired he was, Fenrir glared up at the three remaining Faunus-haters, his eyes shining with Azure brilliance.

"Enough of this." He growled, instantly placing a hand to his throat as that weird pressure built in his neck again.

" _What is that?!"_ He wondered in frustration, _"How many drawbacks does using my Aura give me? Now… Ghhh it hurts to breathe."_

The two masked men ran forward, hoping that the Wolf was now too exhausted to be much of a challenge. Fenrir side-stepped the first guy, and smashed his head into the railing that ran along the perimeter of the old vessel. The bar bent from the sheer force Fenrir had put into the throw. The second man swung his sword, the crude weapon bouncing off of Frostbite's blades. The Grimm followed up with a kick to the ankle, then another kick to the face, splintering the ugly red mask the man wore as he crumpled to the Ground.

Now, it was just Fenrir and Vatn.

"You Faunus are always annoyingly persistent." Vatn commented, eyes narrowed at the haggard Alpha.

The Grimm didn't respond, he was done talking. Instead he retracted his claws, and stalked toward the older woman.

"My sons work is important you vile creature," She muttered hatefully, her eyes beginning to glow again, "I must be here to see him succeed, to watch as he turns your people back to their true place in society. Now, Wolf… **Wallow in your nightmares!"**

As soon as the two locked eyes, Fenrir froze, instantly caught in the clutches of Vatn's Semblance. The Grimm's arms tensed and untensed, his legs starting to shake as he saw in his mind's eye, the one thing he feared more than anything else. Vatn started to walk towards the Alpha, the teen falling to his knees as his claws scraped along the steel floor.

"Tell me beast," Vatn whispered, "What is it you fear?"

Most people's fears, Vatn had come to realise, were always boringly predictable. So she was curious, this vagrant who roared in rage and bared his teeth to his enemies, what did he fear?

Straining her Semblance, Vatn pierced into the Grimm's mind, and could now see what he saw.

And she saw Remnant… _And it was on fire._

All around the pair, the ground was rocky and barren, nothing grew. In the distance, she could hear the raging roar of fires, along with the moans and wails of animals, hopelessly clinging to the last threads of their life as the very air choked them. The sky overhead was choked with ash, the clouds appearing as black as ink. All around, for miles and miles, this was all Vatn could see, the whole planet turned into a hellscape where no life could possibly survive.

And then, a figure approached the pair.

This person, this being, was unlike anything Vatn had ever seen. It stood like a colossus, effortlessly towering over both of them. It wore no clothes, and its skin was a deep purple. On the top of its head, were the horns of a Ram. But the most alarming feature this being possessed, was its complete lack of a face.

It held the impression of a face, but there were no eyes, no nose, no mouth. This just made it even more unsettling when the faceless entity did in fact speak. It's voice was ancient, powerful, and made Vatn feel microscopic in its presence.

" **I MADE YOU,"** It said, hand reaching down to grasp the paralysed Beowolf, **"YOU, ARE MINE TO COMMAND, FOR ALL ETERNITY."**

Having seen enough, Vatn retreated out of Fenrir's mind. The Alpha's breathing became erratic and shallow, his eyes strangely shifting between blue and red.

"How fascinating," Vatn whispered, drawing closer still to the wolf, "Your fear is truly a unique one. Where did this twisted vision come from I wonder. What secrets do your mind…"

Vatn was cut off by a hand crushing her windpipe. It all happened so fast; the woman hadn't had time to react. Fenrir had gotten back to his feet, lifting Vatn off of the ground. His eyes were now blood-red and filled with pure loathing, his fangs clenched hard against each other as he let out an enraged roar. This close, Vatn could see every one of his sharpened teeth, black smoke starting to spew out of the gaps in his maw.

" **WE WILL NEVER SERVE YOU AGAIN!"**

With a shout that hurt Vatn's ears, Fenrir pitched the woman into a pile of crates. Vatn gasped as pain spiked in the shoulder that hit the crates the hardest. Looking up through her dishevelled hair, Vatn gave an involuntary gulp as she gazed up at the furious Alpha. It was clear, she was no longer dealing with a teenage boy anymore, she was facing something darker, something more vicious.

" **YOU… FILTHY… DUSTLING!"** Fenrir snarled, claws on his fingers lengthening as he abandoned his earlier goal of just capturing Vatn, in favour of removing her from his life forever, **"I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!"**

Fenrir charged like a bull, frothing and foaming as he planned to tear this miserable speck of life to fleshy ribbons. Before he could break his promise, Coal charged in from out of nowhere and tackled the wild animal to the ground.

"GO!" Coal yelled, frantically trying to pin Fenrir down as he thrashed on the ground, howling and roaring like he was rabid, "RUN!"

Vatn had seen quite enough for one afternoon. She crossed the planks into the harbour, and took off as fast as her legs could carry her. Coal repositioned himself and began to try choking the Grimm into submission.

Fenrir was burning with Hatred, but his strength was fading. He couldn't concentrate enough to summon his Aura, and even if he could, the action would completely drain his Aura, in which case he would absolutely transform right there and then. His vision grew cloudy as Coal's grip on his throat tightened.

"RRAAAGGHHRR!"

A high-pitched yell rang in Fenrir's consciousness, and it took him a moment to realise that Coal's hands were no longer trying to suffocate him. Turning to the side, Fenrir almost didn't believe what he was seeing. Phthalo had dived onto Coal from above and clubbed the man round the back of his head with his own weapon.

" _Theo… I told him to stay hidden."_ Even the Grimm's thoughts were muddy as he struggled back to his feet. Still, he couldn't exactly complain, things would have gotten ugly if the young Bluebird hadn't intervened.

Coal appeared dazed, the blow from the child strong enough to discombobulate him, but not strong enough to put him down for good. Seizing the opportunity, Fenrir grabbed Coal by his arms and pinned him back in a full Nelson.

"Theo!" Fenrir shouted, struggling against Coal, "Hit him again!"

The boy was shaking, the adrenaline proving too much for him as his grip on the club grew lax. His fear returned as he stared at the Dark-skinned male who was desperately trying to break free from Fenrir's hold.

"I…I…" Phthalo trembled, his mind going blank, he didn't know what to do.

"It'll be okay Theo!" Fenrir assured, arms burning as they held Coal, "But you have to hit him again, right now!"

"Don't you dare brat!" Coal yelled, scowling at the child, "I'll make you suffer if you lay a finger on me!"

Phthalo still appeared scared, but Fenrir's words gave him focus. Blocking out the other man's threat, Theo reared the club back and gave another furious yell as he caught Coal right on his jaw. This was the blow that finally knocked Coal out cold.

Fenrir waited a moment to make sure it wasn't a trick, then unceremoniously dumped Coal's unconscious body to the floor. The Alpha recalled that Vatn had once more made for an escape attempt. Not one to let prey get away, the Wolf set off to resume the chase.

He made it all of one step, before his legs turned to jelly and he fell to the floor.

"Fenrir!" Phthalo cried in alarm, holding onto his friends shoulder as the Beowolf gasped for air, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

" _Kid, I hurt all over."_ Fenrir said to himself, aware of all the aches that covered his body and the lethargy beginning to dull his mind.

He looked over at the make-shift boardwalk, not catching any sign of Vatn, and hung his head.

" _I'm beat."_ He was forced to admit, annoyance bubbling away in his core as a Grendelson had once again escaped him, _"Even if I tried to chase her now, I'm too tired to do anything about it. Plus… that Semblance of hers… I'm not being on the receiving end of that again."_

An involuntary shudder ran through Fenrir as he remembered that horrific vision. That being, if he ever came back…

Ripping himself away from that whole experience, Fenrir finally addressed the younger Faunus. He offered Theo a tired smile, before ruffling his hair.

"Thanks for the save Theo," He said warmly, "I guess I should be thankful you didn't listen to me."

The boy's face reddened at the praise. Fenrir laboriously got back to his feet. Looking around at the state of the ship, the Alpha quirked an eyebrow at the sight of the snowflakes still floating in the air.

"Vatn got away," Fenrir stated, "And while that is… annoying, we still accomplished what we set out to do today."

"Now all we have to do is go free those prisoners, right?" Phthalo asked eagerly

"Exactly."

Fenrir carefully scooped up the three unconscious men onto his shoulders. His arms complained, but he'd learned how to tune that out a long time ago. Once he had a good grip on them, he nodded to Theo, and the two walked back the way they came.

The whole way back, Fenrir couldn't stop thinking about that nightmarish vision. He could still see those purple horns every time he closed his eyes. That vision might well exist in every Grimm alive today. The full story had been lost to time, and his people didn't care for specifics.

But one thing they knew for certain, was that their current leader hadn't always been as such. They had had a master before… and the world was better off without HIM.

" _He's gone,"_ Fenrir assured himself, _"He's gone, and he's not coming back."_

Sooner rather than later, Fenrir and Theo found their way back to the clearing where the whole battle had started. In the centre, a pile of unconscious goons were haphazardly dumped on top of each other. Shrugging, Fenrir deposited his cargo on top of the pile. With his hands free, Fenrir was able to fish out his Scroll. Checking his Aura, Fenrir was frustrated to find his Aura level was firmly in the red zone.

" _I'm not at risk of transforming, but still, I'd best not take any chances."_

"Vatn got away I take it?"

A snide voice startled the Alpha. Looking behind him, he saw Miltia, nursing her shoulder, with her claws fixed to her hips. Not wanting to answer that humiliating question, Fenrir looked over the girls head and quickly realised the other Malachite wasn't with her.

"Where's Melanie?" He asked bluntly.

"She's looking for Junior's money," Miltia answered, irked that her own question had been side-stepped, "Once we've got it, we're out of here."

Miltia stopped there, hissing slightly as her shoulder continued to burn. Fenrir noticed the red swelling being covered by Miltia's hand. Her Aura had stopped Cobalt's spiked ball from piercing her skin, but the fire dust had clearly been effective enough to break through the defence.

"Will that heal?" He asked quietly.

"Of course it will," Miltia answered coarsely, "It'll just take a while, my Aura took a lot of hits."

The girl continued to rub at the affected area, wincing every few seconds or so. The Grimm knew absolutely nothing about treating injuries, and Miltia was correct when she said that her Aura would eventually heal the damage.

" _Still, that looks like it really hurts."_ Fenrir stared for a moment, before an idea came to his mind, _"Wait… My Aura, it makes everything cold."_

It wouldn't make the injury go away, but it should be able to soothe the burn. The Beowolf took a step forward, hand outstretched to place it on the affected area. Miltia's eyes widned and she hopped backwards, hands flinching like she was about to smack Fenrir.

"Hey, you better watch those hands Wolf!" She snapped, receiving a flat look from Fenrir in return.

"I'm just trying to help your injury." He explained.

"It's fine!" Miltia assured with annoyance, "I don't need a nurse, or a pity party from some Dog."

Fenrir turned his nose up in irritation, half-tempted to just let Miltia suffer. But another wince from the girl, made Fenrir take a calming breath and back off just a little bit so as to not seem threatening.

"Look, you're obviously in pain," Fenrir said quickly, aware of the incensed look Miltia was quickly forming, "I'm only offering to take the edge off that burn. I… I won't touch you, just let me near it."

The short-haired twin appeared reluctant, but the fact her mind still couldn't shake off the persistent stinging sensation, did force her to come to a decision rather quickly. Still looking aggravated, Miltia huffed once more and turned her head to the side, closing her eyes.

"Fine, whatever," She muttered, "I better not feel ONE single claw, got that Dog?"

Fenrir didn't respond to the threat, opting to instead place his hand near Miltia's shoulder. It took a fair bit of concentration, what with his Aura now being quite weak, but after some effort, a blue mist started to leak out from his hand. Miltia tensed up upon feeling the sudden icy Aura bite at her skin. Seeing her discomfort, Fenrir focused and lessened the output of his Aura, reducing it to a level that wasn't uncomfortably cold.

It must have done the trick as after a few seconds, Miltia's face relaxed. Fenrir was even able to catch a quiet sigh of contentment as the cooling effects of the Grimm's Aura worked on soothing the burn.

Eventually, the skin on her arm was now the same shade as the rest of her body. Knowing her Aura would do the rest, Fenrir relaxed and let the blue mist fade away from his hand. Miltia remained in the same, relaxed position for a few moments more, before she realised Fenrir had stopped using his Aura and immediately stiffened back up.

The two stood in awkward silence for a bit, Fenrir just adopting his usual scowl while Miltia debated on whether or not she wanted to thank the black-haired boy for what he'd done. She had just opened her mouth, when an equally bossy voice broke through the silence that had formed around the pair.

"Hey, Wolf!" Melanie yelled, striding quickly into the clearing, "Back away from her, now!"

Fenrir frowned when he saw just how dishevelled Melanie looked. Granted, they'd all been through quite a fight, but she looked especially out-of-sorts. In fact, when giving a cursory scan of her mental state, Fenrir was surprised to find a powerful mixture of negative emotions were swirling around the normally emotionless twin. The most primary emotion though, was fear.

"Melanie," Miltia called out, in a tone that was half warning, half calming, "I'm okay, he didn't do anything."

Melanie looked at her sister and at their Faunus accomplice, her eyes darting back and forth erratically. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Vatn must have hit Melanie with her Semblance, just like she'd hit the Grimm himself.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Fenrir followed on after Miltia, trying to pull Melanie away from whatever nightmares were currently plaguing her.

Melanie continued to glare at the Alpha, but her shoulders did lower just a little bit as she adjusted her feather scarf. It was then that she brought the two's attention to the briefcase being held in her left hand.

"Safe had already been busted open," Melanie said emotionlessly, "Idiot's just left the Lien sitting in there. Let's just get this back to Junior."

" _Junior, that's their boss,"_ Fenrir remembered, _"Well, after today, the Red Hand will be just as much his enemy as they are mine. I wonder…"_

"Uhh, guys," Phthalo literally flew back into the conversation, expression anxious and unsure, "That umm, girl from earlier. She's still…"

Looking at where the boy was pointing, the trio quickly spotted the young Mouse-Faunus known as Lucy Mauve, kneeling on the floor, eyes still dull and unfocused. Fenrir took one look at the heavy metal collar still tightly locked onto her neck, and sneered in disgust.

" _That, is coming off!"_

Taking slow strides, the Grimm made his way towards the pitiable sight of the broken Faunus, crouching down to meet her on eye-level. Lucy gave an anxious look to the Wolf, the level of which was hard to judge thanks to the cloudiness of her eyes.

"Where's lady Vatn?" She asked quietly, causing Fenrir to flinch slightly.

"Forget about her," He said firmly, "She won't torment you anymore."

Slowly, Fenrir pressed the index pad on his gloves, one singular blade springing forth from his Gauntlet. Lucy reacted instantly; terror written all over her face as she feared this stranger would cut her to bits. Seeing and sensing her panic, Fenrir halted in place and gave the girl what he hoped was a reassuring look.

"It's ok," He said, "I won't hurt you. I'm taking you back home and away from all this."

At a carefully slow pace, making no sudden movements that might startle the girl any further, Fenrir brought his shining blade along the side of her collar. As easily as scissors cutting paper, the blade split the metal restraint and the collar clattered to the floor.

Lucy froze, seemingly unable to comprehend what had just happened. Slowly, she held a clammy hand up to her neck, finally realising that the heavy lump of metal that had been clamped on her neck, was no longer there. Her breath hitched, her eyes became clearer, her hands trembled as the reality of what happened set in.

Then, Fenrir was hit by a blur of movement so fast and unexpected that he didn't even react. His ears folded over as they were hit by a high-pitched wail. Lucy had dove straight into him, openly sobbing into his chest as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, as if afraid her saviour would disappear, and this would all turn out to be some twisted dream.

"T-THANK YOU… T-THANK Y-Y-YOU SO M-M-MUCH!" She sobbed into his shirt, her breath shallow and shaky, "P-PLEASE, GET M-ME OUTO O-O-O-OF HERE!"

Fenrir stared off into space, still as a statue as his face broadcasted just how alarmed he was. Negative energy was exploding off of this girl in waves, driving his impulses wild with the want to rip into Human Flesh. Fighting off this desire, Fenrir turned his head sharply toward Theo.

"Help her," He whispered frantically to the boy, "I don't… I don't know what to…"

Seeing that his friend was clearly at a loss for how to comfort the girl, Phthalo flapped his wings and placed his small hands on Lucy's back, grabbing her attention.

"C'mon Miss," He said comfortingly, "Let's get you off the ship."

Sniffling, Lucy got back to her feet, relinquishing the internally panicking Beowolf from her grasp. While Phthalo escorted the young girl off the ship, Fenrir got to his feet and stared around at the cages full of trapped Faunus, some of whom were currently begging him to set them free. Seeing this would take a while, Fenrir turned to Melanie and Miltia with an uncomfortable gaze.

"Miltia, Melanie, please," He said hesitantly, "This will go a lot faster if I have some help."

He honestly expected them to refuse, they had what they were after, their business here was finished. Instead, Melanie turned to look at Miltia, specifically she looked at her arm, at the now clear skin that had healed over a nasty burn with help from Fenrir's own icy Aura. Knowing that that burn would still be causing Miltia quite a bit of discomfort if Fenrir had done nothing, Melanie figured that it wouldn't kill them to stick around for a little while longer.

Miltia meanwhile…

"Sure," She responded in a tone that was almost friendly, "Oum knows I wouldn't want to be stuck here."

"Mmhmm." Fenrir murmured in agreement.

Seeing that his request had been granted, Fenrir got to work, moving to the nearest cage while the twins went to go open their own cages. Fenrir could see the growing excitement in the Faunus prisoners, eager to be let out.

"Stand back!" He instructed, now unleashing all of his blades.

With one deft strike, Fenrir slashed the lock to bits. Heaving the door open, Fenrir stood back as the Faunus piled out of the cage, some cheering, others crying in relief. One of the last people to come out of the cage was Rostig, still holding onto the child from before, and smiling warmly at the younger Wolf.

"Had a feeling you were one of the good ones," He said confidently, "You had a fire in your eyes that I've only ever seen in true Huntsmen, and they're surprisingly rare."

Fenrir's face twitched as a growing feeling of discomfort started to rumble in his core. He became painfully aware of his own heartbeat thundering in his ears, along with a tightness in his chest that made it hard to breathe.

This condition grew steadily worse with every cage he busted open. As the Faunus would exit the cages, some would turn to him and offer him thanks, praising him as their hero. Some cried, others shook his hand, while others straight up embraced him like Lucy did. The few children that had been unfortunate enough to be taken by the Red Hand, stared up at the giant, stern-looking Wolf Faunus with awe and wonder.

But with every cage opened, Fenrir felt worse and worse. The world started to spin around him, his lungs felt like they were being squeezed, his head hurt, and his legs started to tremble beneath him.

" _This… This is wrong!"_ His mind screamed at him, his skull feeling like it was being cleaved in half with an axe, _"I shouldn't be doing this. I'm a Grimm! I don't save Humans, I kill them. That's what I'm supposed to do… Right? I… I can't think, I CAN'T SEE, WHAT AM I DOING… WHAT'S HAPPNEING TO ME,_ _ **WHO AM I?! WHAT…AM…I?!"**_

All of his issues, all of his troubles and worries had piled on top of one another. His new body, his borrowed Aura, The Red Hand, the Faunus, his uncertainty of his own future, his new emotions that he didn't know how to control or reign in. He'd stubbornly refused to think about them, and now, that all these men and women were calling him a hero, thanking him for saving their lives, all but spitting in the face of everything he used to be, all that being added to his list of problems, had finally proved too much for him.

The Grimm collapsed to his knees, desperately trying to regulate his breathing as his head pounded with the beat of his own heart. The world around him started to collapse, his nails digging into the metal floor in an effort to ground himself.

" _ **WEAK… PATHETIC… I'M A TRAITOR… A FILTHY, DIGUSTING TRAITOR! THERE'S NO FUTURE FOR ME…!"**_

And just when he was about to overload, black mist swirling angrily around him, a calming voice broke through the haze. A graceful, harmonic voice that instantly grabbed the Grimm's attention steadily calmed the storm of emotions raging inside him.

" _Shhhh, it's okay Fenrir,"_ The voice said soothingly, _"You're not a traitor, your still doing what you've always done. Focus on my voice, come back to me, everything's alright, you're not weak, or filthy, or pathetic. You are so much stronger now!"_

A new sensation hit Fenrir then. A feeling of warm hands, stroking his hair, even though when he looked up, there were no hands, his hair was undisturbed. Slowly, despite his chaotic emotions raging against one another, the boy was able to find an anchoring point in the voice, and he clung to it like a lifeline. Right now, it was the only thing keeping him from drowning.

" _Come on, back on your feet soldier."_ The voice ordered jokingly, _"I promise, everything will work out in the end. Just for now, get the rest of these poor souls free."_

Taking a few more calming breaths, Fenrir rose back to his feet, the back of his neck burning from slight shame at his emotional outburst. For a Grimm, it was incredibly unbecoming. As the sensation of fingers carding his hair disappeared, leaving Fenrir mystified as to where the sensation had even come from, he set off to finish off with the last few cages.

As Fenrir headed further and further into the maze of containers, his mood darkened when he saw that a few Faunus were in worse condition than others. Many were thin and malnourished, others were covered in bruises, cuts and various other injuries. The further he went along, it became clear that some of these people had been here for some time, judging by the sickly skin and sunken eyes.

And as he approached the final cage, he saw that for one person, he had been too late.

A body sat slumped against the back of the cage, the pungent stench in the air telling Fenrir that whoever this was, they had passed on long before he had arrived. The lingering emotions in the air told the Alpha a story. A story of pain, of torment and isolation, a story that ended with this failing body unable to even summon up the strength to breathe. Fenrir just stared at the corpse for a while, fingers twitching intermittently as he realised that for everyone calling him a hero today, one person would never get to experience freedom in this life, ever again.

" _At least now, you can have freedom in the afterlife."_ Was the only consolation he could give to the body.

"We got the last one open," Melanie said, rather suddenly appearing next to Fenrir, "Can we leave now…"

She very quickly saw what the wolf was looking at. Her face paled a little, but she gave no other reaction outside of that as they both stared at the decaying body. Turning to look up at him, Melanie half expected the younger man to look traumatised or queasy. Instead to her surprise, his face was blank, completely empty of emotion. Staring into his cold, blue eyes, Melanie was startled at the sheer intensity of Fenrir's gaze.

He acted socially awkward, he clearly didn't know much about the kingdom, or just how people operated, and he had anger issues that stretched a mile wide in all directions. But looking at him now, Melanie knew that this strange Faunus was no stranger to death.

" _You are one strange guy."_

Noticing a clipboard was attached to the front of the cage, Fenrir removed the board from its hook and examined it. On it was what was most likely the dead Faunus' identity, along with basic information regarding their age, height, weight and other general information.

Though, it was the name at the top that really got the Grimm's blood boiling. There, in overly flourished handwriting, was a name Fenrir recognised.

 _Faunus handler: Cobalt Electra_

Now Melanie saw an emotion on the young teens face; Rage. A rage so potent and fierce, the girl could almost feel the heat of it washing over her. The clipboard shook in Fenrir's grip as he thought back to all of the cages he'd passed on the way here. Most of the Faunus who were in the worst condition, had all had the same 'Handler'.

And that woman, that vile creature, she'd just let this person **Die. In fear, in pain,** _ **Alone, helpless to prevent their own demise.**_

The clipboard shattered; splinters tossed up into the air before clattering to the floor. With an unnatural stillness, Fenrir's neck craned his head back towards the clearing where the pile of unconscious Red Hand thugs was located, his eyes wide and alight with a near psychotic level of wrath, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the splinters currently embedded in his hand. Melanie felt a shiver run up her spine at the insidious sight.

"Fenrir?" She asked warily.

"We're done here," Was the wolfs hollow reply, "Let's get these Faunus off the ship, I'll call the Sergeant."

Fenrir walked off without even waiting for a reply, his boots thudding hard against the floor. Melanie gave an uneasy glance at Fenrir's retreating back, but shook off her building nerves and followed him, not wishing to remain in this filthy place.

" _We'll need to warn Junior about these guys, the Red Hand will definitely try to muscle in on our turf now. Should probably tell him about this guy too, something about him just… isn't normal."_

Her suspicions towards her Wolf companion were exacerbated when she saw inky black smoke start to slowly seep out of Fenrir's clothing. As far as she knew, Fenrir's Aura produced a blue glow and made Frost, not black shadows.

Fenrir's rage built as he walked back to regroup with Miltia and Theo. What that foul witch had done, torturing these Faunus, being so cruel as to let one starve to death, a Grimm was more merciful than that foul creature that dared to call itself Human. His Grimm blood drank in all the potent negative energy in the air, all the pain and fear feeding his rage and focusing it all on to one point.

Cobalt Electra.

When the two returned to the main area, Theo was busy ferrying the Faunus off of the ship whilst Miltia seemed content to watch from the side-lines, holding the briefcase that Melanie had recovered earlier. The sight made Fenrir calm down a little, he didn't want to appear unhinged in front of the young Bird Faunus.

Before any words could be said however, movement started to appear from the pile of goons.

With a gasp, Cobalt burst out of the pile of unconscious bodies. The remaining Faunus either backed away in fear, or screamed in terror, fearing that freedom would be snatched from them just as they'd been given a chance to escape. Theo, likewise, stumbled backwards, tightly clutching Coal's club like just holding the thing would keep him safe.

"You… you beasts…" Cobalt gasped, legs shaking as she surveyed the crowd, "You're not… gonna get away with this. You think you're safe? Grar is gonna make sure you're all put in your place, YOU STUPID, REVOLTING ANIMALS!"

Cobalt sneered in contempt, proudly showing her disgust for these warped creatures that had the nerve to think they were on the same level as Humans. Her sneer dissolved when she felt a strange sensation prick at the back of her skull, like wasps buzzing right behind her.

Whipping her head around, Cobalt's indignation fell apart when she saw the Wolf who had shattered her weapon. He was glaring at her with the most HATEFUL eyes she'd ever seen, his fists clenched so hard she could see drops of blood drip to the floor.

For the barest moment, the blue-haired woman thought she saw the teens cold blue eyes change to a fiery red.

Fenrir took a step forward, his mind filling up with thoughts of just how much he could make this wretched woman bleed, how much pain he could put her through.

Black smoke swirled around him like fog, Melanie becoming so unnerved by the sight and feel of it that she backed away from Fenrir. An unsettling feeling spread throughout her core that was almost suffocating in how thick it was, like she wasn't standing next to some Faunus teen, but a wild animal that would rip her throat out at the slightest provocation.

Cobalt was obviously feeling the same sensation as she made a break for it rather than try and fight. Miltia cut off her retreat, brandishing her claws along with her usual bored demeanour.

"Don't think it's gonna be that easy." She scolded.

Cobalt hissed, the tremors in her spine getting worse as Fenrir got closer to her, his pace neither speeding up or slowing down. A flash of his fangs jolted her like an electric shock, and she turned to her only possible exit. Going into a dead sprint, Cobalt almost ripped a pair of metal doors off their hinges as she tore into the bowels of the aged ship.

"Idiot," Miltia tutted, "She's trapped down there now."

" **Perfect."**

Fenrir's voice was beginning to sound warped, a hellish growl acting as an undercurrent to his already deep tones. The twins were now both taking note of just how… twitchy Fenrir was becoming, and there was still that strange black mist.

"Fenrir?" Theo asked uncertainly, also aware that something had changed in his friend.

"You two," Fenrir barked, ignoring Theo entirely, "Get the rest of these Faunus off the ship. Theo, take my scroll and call Sergeant Barley, tell him where we are… Cobalt is **mine!"**

The twins remained silent; their usual defiance tempered by the chilling look in Fenrir's blue/red eyes. Phthalo scrambled to catch Fenrir's scroll as he chucked it at the boy, staring at the Grimm's retreating back. Despite his fear, the boy rushed forward just as Fenrir was about to cross the threshold.

"Wait!" He called out, "Just… just don't kill her… o-okay?"

Fenrir halted, his body completely still. When he turned to look down at Phthalo, his eyes were a more calming blue, and he even managed a small smile as he nodded at the boy.

"Don't worry," He assured the younger male, "I made a promise, I will not kill her."

With his piece said, Fenrir turned and strode into the depths of the ship, closing the doors behind him. The group of three stared at the closed doors with apprehension, both wondering what was happening behind those doors, and not wanting to know at all.

"Come on kid," Miltia said eventually, "Let's get off this rust-bucket."

Giving one last glance to the doors, Theo turned and flapped his wings to re-join the twins as they begrudgingly helped the remaining Faunus.

….

Cobalt heard nothing but the steady drip of a nearby water leak, the flickering of an overhead fluorescent light and her own shallow breathing. Hiding inside of the ship may have seemed like a stupid idea to outsiders, but the girl figured if she could just remain hidden from that Wolf boy, he'd give up and then she could properly make her escape that way.

" _Something ain't right with that freak!"_ She thought to herself, _"What the hell was that black smoke about?"_

What Cobalt was unaware of, was that Fenrir had been steadily losing his grip on his own mental state. His Aura was still intact, so he couldn't transform, but it was still low, so parts of his true nature were starting to leak out. The longer he stayed in this place, the longer he pursued the woman, the larger those cracks in his façade would become.

And the more his developing Humanity would start to erode away.

The flickering of the light was really starting to annoy Cobalt now, her heterochronic eyes narrowing at the offending object. When she looked up at it though, she saw the light was steadily blinking more and more, leaving the hallway she was crouched down in in longer periods of darkness.

" **You enjoyed it… didn't you?"** A cold, sinister voice echoed down the halls, striking Cobalt directly in her soul.

The light shattered, cloaking the girl in shadows and making her gasp in shock. Shooting to her feet, Cobalt sprinted down the hall, desperately trying to get far away from the source of that horrible voice.

" **You knew they were dying… and you let it happen. You didn't even have the spine to finish them off yourself, did you?"**

Another light exploded in another cramped hallway, sending shards of glass in Cobalt's direction as she ran past.

" _WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL!"_ Cobalt's mind became a frantic, panicked mess as she ran in any random direction. The voice sounded closer that time, the previous tones of the Wolf Faunus almost lost among the more hellish sound of his new voice.

" _What is he, What the hell is going on, this isn't supposed to be happening!"_

" **I'll bet you enjoyed their suffering for as long as you could."** The voice chuckled, a dark sickly thing that made Cobalt's heart feel like it was trying to exit out of her oesophagus, **"I can relate to that actually. So you won't mind… if I take my time with you!"**

Cobalt tripped and fell, her pulse pounded in her ears as an unfamiliar feeling washed over her body like iced water. The feeling that if she didn't find a way out now, she might actually die down here.

" _Get a grip Cobalt. He's a kid, just some Faunus brat, he's not gonna kill you."_

Another light exploded, and Cobalt instantly doubted the validity of her own words.

" **I can hear you breathing."** The voice cut into her thoughts like a knife, seeming to come out of the very walls. The shadows were surrounding her now, almost looking like they were reaching out to grasp her by the neck and wring the life out of her.

" **I can smell your sweat. I can taste your fear, your fresh… beautiful FEAR!"**

"GO TO HELL!" She screamed, spinning around in all directions, trying to find the source of that nightmarish voice. The air grew cold around her, the darkness became blacker than pitch.

The chill brought her attention to the fact that tear marks were trailing down her face and she felt her frustration build at how quickly she was coming apart.

Turning down one last corridor, Cobalt froze, paralysed with terror as a lone figure stood at the far end of the hallway.

" **Found you."**

Fenrir wasn't home anymore; his rage had taken him completely.

Demonic, searing red eyes glared out through the gloom, piercing straight through the girl directly to her soul. The single remaining light illuminated his ghostly pale features, the shadows swirling and writhing around him like a spectre. His eyes weren't just red now, the whites of his eyes were as black as his surroundings.

Looking down at his arms, Cobalt was surprised to find that those annoying Gauntlets of his, were missing, cast off to the floor behind him. Instead, she was met with the sight of his bare hands, and unnaturally long claws tipping off the ends of his fingers. A sound like splintering wood rang sharp in the quiet of the hallway.

The girls skin crawled with revulsion when she realised the sound was coming from the thing in front of her, his fingers constantly popping out of their sockets and popping back in as his claws grew longer.

" _Wait, is that hair on his hands, or fur?!"_

Black, course fibres covered the back of the beasts hands as he slowly made his way towards his prey. His eyes never wavered, the red gaze never once leaving Cobalt's own. Cobalt remained rooted to the spot; her legs frozen as this monster drew ever closer.

Noticing a workman's wrench hanging up near her, Cobalt sprung to life, grabbed the improvised weapon and charged at the Grimm with all she had.

" _Damned if you think I'm going down without a fight freak!"_

The monster didn't react to Cobalt's charge. The woman swung with all her strength, aiming right at the Beowolf's head.

But the Grimm just caught the wrench, seemingly with little effort. Cobalt tried to pry it out of his grip, but the beast responded by bringing his knee up into Cobalt's gut. The blow forced all of the air out of Cobalt's lungs and brought her to her knees.

Her legs exposed, the Grimm brought his thick boot down onto Cobalt's ankle, shattering the thin bones there. Her scream tore through the stale air, going unheard by all but her and her tormentor.

Gone now was that manic, confident terrorist who had revelled in the torture of Faunus scum. Now, all that remained in the face of a true demon, was a scared girl, scrambling backwards to try and escape this living nightmare.

The Grimm tossed the wrench aside, seeing no need for it. More snapping sounds echoed through the hallway as the Grimm's form became more disfigured. His teeth grew larger, long, gleaming sabres that jutted out of his mouth and forcibly broke his jaw as his lips started to tear from the strain.

The pain was great, but inconsequential to this Demon as he drank in this pitiful Dustlings horror. Her fear was fresh, raw and writhing in the air.

Perfectly salting the meat.

Cobalt's heart was hammering furiously now, her mind despairing as she now knew there was no escaping this carnivore, this monster that crawled out of the deepest, darkest pits of the underworld. She shut her eyes upon seeing that this _thing_ above her was now drooling, great globs of spittle spattered the floor and the legs of her pants, unearthly growls and gurgles escaping the creatures razor sharp maw.

" **BLAKKR JASHAT FAAL LOPT."**

[Black out the sky]

Cobalt kept her eyes shut, her mind not even processing that the demon was now speaking gibberish, it's grating voice attacking her brain as it demanded attention.

" **PAH HLUTR FEN DEYJA."**

[All things must die]

Silence.

Not a single sound in the hallway.

Cobalt became confused, had the creature just vanished, given up?

She opened her eyes.

And the **ALPHA BEOWOLF POUNCED.**

" **RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

…

 **A/N: So… that was something different wasn't it. This chapter was going to be longer, but then I remembered Halloween is right around the corner, and I wanted to get this out so I could give you guys something for the spooky season.**

 **Next chapter be the end of this mini-arc, and I'll finally move on to other stuff in the RWBY universe. Apologies for the wait, but I still hope you enjoy this chapter for what it was. A lot of fights, some character development for Fenrir, and then just some good old spooky fun at the end.**

 **Happy Halloween guys, see you all for Volume 7.**


End file.
